The Mould In Dr Florey's Coat by Eric Lax

The Mould In Dr Florey's Coat by Eric Lax

In a time long before a scientist with a lead on a promising drug would immediately file for an initial public offering, neither Fleming nor Florey and his associates ever made money from their achievements; it was American initials and companies that won patents on the processes of penicillin's manufacture and drew royalties from its sale. Why this happened, why it took 14 years to develop penicillin, and how it was finally done, is a story of quirky individuals, missed opportunities, medical prejudice, brilliant science, shoestring research, wartime pressures and misplaced modesty.

'Veteran journalist and author Lax takes a revealing look back at the time when world-altering science was done on a shoestring, bringing to brilliant life the story of the first great antibioticWhile Alexander Fleming is the name most often associated with penicillin, it was the Oxford team of Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Norman Heatley, the author reminds us, that turned Fleming's 1928 discovery of the potent mold into a life-saving miracle drug while working under Spartan and dangerous conditions. Responding to the threat of an imminent Nazi invasion, Heatley proposed that in case they were forced to abandon their work and flee, they preserve the mold spores by rubbing some into the fabric of their clothing. (Hence the title.) Lax first captures the personalities of each of these four men and then moves on to Florey's efforts to scrounge together the funds for his team's work. An initial grant from the Medical Research Council for materials was GBP25, the equivalent then of about $100.00. Funds from the Rockefeller Foundation were more generous, but ingenuity and improvisation remained essential. Heatley cobbled together an apparatus to extract penicillin from mold juice using glass tubing, assorted pumps, copper coils, colored warning lights, and even an old doorbell. The meager amounts of penicillin the team was able to produce showed therapeutic potential, but larger quantities were needed to run the necessary clinical trials. Unable to interest British pharmaceutical companies, they turned to the US, offering to share all their knowledge of how to produce penicillin in return for a supply. Florey and Heatley's dog-and-pony show in the US, the American role in the penicillin story, Fleming's public behavior when the news of penicillin's clinical value became known, the Nobel Prize expectations of those involved all make for fascinating reading. Even sex rears its intriguing head, with both Florey's wife and mistress getting into the act. Informative and thoroughly enjoyable science history.' Kirkus Review

Eric Lax is a biographer and magazine journalist (Vanity Fair, Esquire) who lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780316859257
ISBN 10	0316859257
Title	The Mould In Dr Florey's Coat
Author	Eric Lax
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Little, Brown & Company
Year published	2004-10-08
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable