Development of penicillin

Who helped to discover penicillin?

Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain

Who were Florey and Chain?

They were researchers at the University of Oxford who discovered Fleming’s work and used it in 1935

What did Florey and Chain do to the penicillin?

They purified it so that it could be used as a medicine, which they achieved in 1941

What experiment did Florey and Chain conduct?

They tested the medicine on Albert Alexander, a policeman who had cut his cheek while gardening and it had become infected with staphylococcus. After treatment, he began to recover but there wasn’t enough penicillin to continue his treatment so sadly Alexander died

What was the significance of Florey and Chain’s experiment?

They had managed to prove that infection could be cured if enough penicillin was given

What happened when WW2 broke out?

Florey and Chain were given $3 million in US government funding to develop and mass produce penicillin (they had previously been awarded £25 by the British government prior to the trial of Alexander)

What impact did penicillin have?

It saved the lives of 15% of soldiers that would have died from infection without penicillin

What happened after WW2?

New methods were developed to grow and purify penicillin on a mass scale, so that more people could be given penicillin which allowed it to become available on the public market