The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7252 p793
7 June 2003

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Letters to the Editor

Penicillin

The results of a rogue infection

From Mr K. A. Lees, FRPharmS

For the sake of accuracy, I write to say that penicillin was not discovered at Oxford (PJ, 17 May, p703) but by Fleming at St Mary’s Hospital in London. He used a small Petri dish, about four inches in diameter, and Penicillium notatum turned up as a rogue infection on his plate on which, I believe, he was researching lysosyme. The development work was carried out at Oxford and this formed the basis of the industrial production of penicillin by four commercial operators, of which Glaxo was the ultimate survivor. This undoubtedly formed the foundation for the development of the pharmaceutical giant we know today. A significant step in the whole procedure was made by Merck, I believe, who discovered the beneficial effect of the use of corn steep liquor in the growth medium for the Penicillium species.

K. A. Lees
Bath

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