History (OCR) - The Development of Penicillin

Fleming discovered pencillin in 1928 – He was studying staphylococci germs and saw that penicillium mould could kill the germs.  He thought that penicillin (a drug made from the penicillium mould) might be a useful cure.

Factors which helped him:

• Chance: He left some staphylococci germs in a dish. Penicillium mould spores landed in the dish by accident.  This led to Fleming’s discovery.
• Individual brilliance: Fleming was a genius.  He saw that penicillium mould killed germs. He tested it on an eye infection and it worked.  He realised this might be an important cure.
• Communication: Fleming wrote an article about penicillin in a medical journal.  This spread his ideas further – across Britain and to the USA.  (read about Florey & Chain)

Criticisms of Fleming's work:

• He was not the first to see penicillin.  Joseph Lister had used it in the 1880s.
• Fleming was not able to make enough penicillin to cure humans.  Fleming could not find a way of producing enough penicillin fast enough.

Florey & Chain’s method of producing penicillin 1938-1941. Florey and Chain read Fleming’s article about penicillin.  They found a way of mass-producing penicillium mould using a freeze-drying technique. Their method was used in America and Britain to produce large amounts of penicillin.

Factors which helped them:

• Communication: faster communication and travel spread Florey & Chain's ideas to the USA where the American government heard of it.  The American government wanted to use penicillin to treat soldiers.
• Government: the American government gave Florey & Chain enough money to fund five years’ of research.  Without it, they would not have been able to discover their new method of producing penicillin.
• Drugs companies: after 1941 they set up huge factories to mass produce penicillin because they could make a profit from selling it as a cure
• War: World War 2 broke out in 1939. The American and British governments funded development of penicillin because they saw how useful it would be for treating injured soldiers

Fleming:

Some people say Fleming was more important. He was the first to write about penicillin’s power.  His article on penicillin inspired Florey and Chain to begin work on mass-producing the drug.

Florey & Chain:

Some say Florey & Chain were more important.  Fleming was unable to grow enough penicillium mould.  If it wasn’t for Florey & Chain’s massproduction methods, it would have been impossible to make enough to treat a human.  Besides, Fleming wasn’t even the first person to discover penicillin.