La pénicilline, agent de propagande

Gilbert ShamaLoughborough University

United Kingdom

CEMI 16 Colloque sur le Contrôle Epidémiologique des Maladies Infectieuses Institut Pasteur le 13 mai 2011

An account of an accident at St Mary’s Hospital, London……

The re-discovery of penicillin….

The Lancet, August 1940

Everything you needed to know about producing penicillin but were afraid to ask…..

The Lancet, August 1941

Misinformation....?

Formula for strontium salt of Penicillin published in Nature, 1942

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Penicillin in time of war…..1940

•Dunkirk

• Start of the ‘Blitz’

1941• Stalemate in the W. Desert

1942•Fall of Singapore

Penicillin in the media

First Article in The Times

27th August, 1942

Letters to

Almroth WrightProfessor of Bacteriology, St Mary’s Hospital, London

Robert Robinson,Waynflete Professor of Chemistry, University of Oxford

“….a laurel wreath for Professor Alexander Fleming for the discovery of penicillin”

31st August, 1942

“… a bouquet at least, and a handsome one, to Professor H W Florey for the discovery of therapeutic penicillin”

2nd September, 1942

Sir Almost Right

Number of Citations in The Times

English Language Broadcasts‘Ariel in Wartime’ – 4th September, 1942

‘Marching On’ – 15th October, 1942

‘Penicillin’ – 2nd September, 1943

‘Producing the Drug Penicillin’ – 22nd

October, 1943

‘Penicillin’ – 20th December. 1943

‘Science Notebook’ – 10th April, 1944

Unwanted Publicity….

“….a flood of pathetic letters from Western Australia to Saskatchewan……”LetterHW Florey to the BBC, October 1942

Ici Londres….- French Language Broadcasts

‘Medical News 10’ – 21st July, 1943

‘Medical News 17’ – 29th September, 1943

‘Une Grande Decouverte de la Science Anglaise’– 17th February, 1944

To Japan

Transmission of P. notatumcultures – Pre 1940

André LwoffInstitut Pasteur

Dr Hans SchmidtIG FarbenMarburg Werke

Georges DreyerSir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford

Harold RaistrickLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Roger ReidPenn State University

Johanna WesterdijkWCS,Baarn, Holland

Siegbert BornsteinBeth Israel HospitalNew York

Julius HirschBerlin & Istanbul

Division of Industrial ChemistryCouncil for Scientific & Industrial Research, East Melbourne, Australia.

Indian Inst. of Science.Bangalore, India

The British Council

S.A. Brewing Co. Ltd.,Adelaide, S. Australia.

N.Z. Government, Strand W.C.

School of Pathology, T.C.D., Eire.

Aktiebololaget MarvelloStockholm, Sweden.

Imperial Mycologist, New Delhi, India.

Guinness Brewery, Dublin, Eire.

Dept. of Pathology, Univ. Coll. Dublin, Eire.

Ministry of Agriculture, Belfast, N. Ireland.

Laboratorio Fidelis, Lisbon, Portugal

Alexr. Lipworth Pty. Co., Johannesburg, S. Africa.

Bakubhai Ambalal & Co., Bombay, India.

South African Inst. For Medical Research, Johannesburg.

Clinsearch Laboratories, Johannesburg, S. Africa.

Distribution of P. notatum NCTC 4222 afterthe outbreak of war.

Information Wars in France

Jean GérardSecretary General

Maison de la Chimie

Frédéric Joliot-CurieCentre National de la

Recherche Scientifique

Access to Anglo-American MaterialBulletin Analytique

Access to the best microfilming facilities, paper and printing presses

Primarily French-German exchanges of scientific literature

Jean WyartCrossed between Occupied and Unoccupied Zones

Information Cascade in the French Pharmaceutical Industry

Applications to WCS, Baarn for cultures of P. notatum

Laboratoires du Dr Roussel – 7th July, 1943

Etablissements Byla – 23rd September, 1943

Maison L Frere – 3rd February, 1944

Publish and be damned…?

Martin, R., and Sureau, B. (1944). La pénicilline et ses applications thérapeutiques. Paris Médical. 10th June, 115- 119.

Martin, R., Sureau, B., and Vittoz, A. (1944) Un cas de méningite a pneumocoques sulfamido-résistants traitée par la pénicilline. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société Médicale des

Hôpitaux de Paris, Nos. 11 & 12, 17 March, 117-120.

Nitti, F. (1944). Un nouveau traitement des infections microbiennes par un produit élaboré par les moisissures: la pénicilline. Le Progrès

Médical. No. 1, 10th January, 10-12.

‘Wervelwind’ Leaflet Dropped over N. Holland by the RAF

24/25th April, 1944

Me too……

Vorsprung durch (englische) technik

Advertisement – The Observer 16th

April, 1944

Homemade Penicillin?

Chemical Synthesis of Penicillin

39 Laboratories •Commercial Organizations•Universities•Government Agencies•Private Foundations

Expenditure by pharmaceutical and chemical companies alone

~ $3 million

Second in scale only to the Manhattan project

FIN