What patients need to know about pharmaceutical supply-chains:

SAMPLE CHAPTER:

10. BACK TO THE FUTURE FOR PHARMA

What we now know is that pharmaceutical companies took a wrong fork in the road in the 1980s. Instead of following SK&Fs example of the hard yards of drug development, it took the easier, more lucrative alternative. That has led to the supply chain woes we have heard about earlier. The fact is, the Zantac experience put an end to a golden era of drug development. Prior to that, physicians, doctors and healthcare professionals were at the heart of drug development, as we will go on to explore.

Penicillin

The penicillin story is well known. For those that need reminding, the mother of all antibiotics was developed by Alexander Fleming. On his return from holiday in August 1928, he noticed that bacteria had not grown in one of his culture dishes. He obtained an extract from the mold in the dish, naming it ‘penicillium’. The rest is history…or is it?

Not according to Robert P. Gaynes, author of Germ Theory, and the article The Discovery of Pen…