THE MICROBIOTICS — MCDONNELL 449 



In the interim the United States was plunged into war, but nothing- 

 was allowed to interfere, and the development work proceeded 

 unabated. 



CLINICAL STUDIES 



The first patient to be studied in this country under the extensive 

 research program which has been in force since was treated with 

 penicillin on March 14, 1942, in New Haven, Conn. An advanced 

 case of hemolytic streptococcus septicemia, the response was imme- 

 diate. A few months later, when additional small quantities of the 

 drug made available from the laboratory-scale production began to 

 provide ample evidence of the almost miraculous powers of this new 

 therapeutic agent, the several cooperating pharmaceutical firms came 

 to the War Production Board with appeals for priority assistance to 

 obtain the exceedingly critical equipment and materials needed for 

 their new pilot plants, which were the next step from research to 

 industrial production. 



Approximately 50 different chemical and other substances are re- 

 quired for the preparation of inoculum, culture media, recovery, and 

 testing. Among these are lactose, starch, talc, activated carbon, sev- 

 eral acetates, ether, chloroform, lime, sulfuric acid, and a byproduct 

 of starch manufacture, corn steep liquor. Several of these substances 

 are consumed now in quantities totaling millions of pounds a year. 

 The containers and tanks, piping, gages, and meters, vacuum and 

 pressure pumps, refrigeration and sterilization apparatus have repre- 

 sented millions of dollars' worth of wartime critical material. How- 

 ever, immediate cooperation was extended, and one of the most dra- 

 matic stories of war production was under way. 



COMPLEMENT 



Penicillin is not a panacea or a cure-all. It is an effective thera- 

 peutic agent and a complement to the sulfonamide drugs. It has some 

 advantages over the latter, but may never replace them. However, 

 medical history will record the coming of penicillin as an impor- 

 tant milestone, for this safe drug has proved effective against many 

 pathogens which heretofore proved immune to chemotherapy, and 

 against infections which had shown an all-too-high lethal rate de- 

 spite amenability to available therapeutic measures. The list of 

 such organisms and infections is impressive and broader clinical 

 investigation will find even greater importance for the new drug just 

 as it is discovering numerous infections against which it is valueless. 



ADVANTAGES 



Four theoretical advantages of penicillin over the sulfonamides, 

 however, are: (1) it is more potent in inhibiting growth of organ- 



