Rethinking antibiotic research and development: World War II and the penicillin collaborative

Abstract

Policy leaders and public health experts may be overlooking effective ways to stimulate innovative antibiotic research and development. I analyzed archival resources concerning the US government's efforts to produce penicillin during World War II, which demonstrate how much science policy can differ from present approaches. By contrast to current attempts to invigorate commercial participation in antibiotic development, the effort to develop the first commercially produced antibiotic did not rely on economic enticements or the further privatization of scientific resources. Rather, this extremely successful scientific and, ultimately, commercial endeavor was rooted in government stewardship, intraindustry cooperation, and the open exchange of scientific information. For policymakers facing the problem of stimulating antibiotic research and development, the origins of the antibiotic era offer a template for effective policy solutions that concentrate primarily on scientific rather than commercial goals.

This poster appeared on the walls of fermentation plants producing penicillin during World War II. Source. Record Group 44, Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932–1947, 44-PA-1505 “Penicillin Saves Soldiers' Lives! Every Minute Saved in Building This Plant Means a Life Saved on the Fighting Fronts. Give This Job Everything You’ve Got, 1941–1954,” National Archives, College Park, MD.

Andrew Moyer, the Northern Regional Research Laboratory scientist who perfected the initial growth medium used for penicillin production during the war effort, points to the mycelium, or matt of mold growth, floating about the growth medium into which it secretes penicillin. Source. Record Group 208, Records of the Office of War Information, 1926–1951, Still Pictures and Records Section, 208-SAI-1-55 Antibiotics, National Archives, College Park, MD.

This diagram depicts how government scientists, lacking commercial barriers, coordinated the selection, trafficking, and alteration of penicillin mold strains between multiple groups. Source. William D. Gray, The Relations of Fungi to Human Affairs (New York: Henry Holt, 1959), 153. Note. NRRL = Northern Regional Research Laboratory; UV = ultraviolet.

Huge containers of mold and growth medium with submerged fermenters revolutionized penicillin production and enabled the pharmaceutical industry to produce large, refined quantities of complex biological materials. Source. Record Group 208, Records of the Office of War Information, 1926—1951, Still Pictures and Records Section, 208-SAI-1-18 Antibiotics, National Archives, College Park, Md.