Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers the anti-bacterial power of the secretions of the fungus Penicillum notatum in his London lab in September 1928, which he published his finding May 10, 1929. Fleming demonstrated the inhibitory power of the secretion ‘penicillin’ on ‘various microbes’, though without the necessary skill to take his work further, he eventually abandoned this work. Nothing would come of it until 10 years later. [1, 2]
“It is clear, therefore, that the production of this antibacterial substance is not common to all moulds or to all types of penicillium.” Alexander Fleming (1929)
In 1935 Gerhard Domagk demonstrated that simple chemical compounds could be used to treat and cure invading bacterial infections, such as his use of Prontosil, to cured systemic Streptococal infections. This work sparked a search for anti-bacterial drugs. [3, 4]
With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, Oxford University team headed by Howard Florey began the search, starting with Fleming’s Penicillum fungus. They successfully purified the fungus’ chemical secretion and in 1939 the first mass produced “antibiotic” called Penicillin was released, thanks to collaborations with British and then US pharmaceutical companies. By 1945, at the end of World War II, Penicillin was nicknamed “the wonder drug“.
Pneumonia, syphilis, gonorrhea, diphtheria, scarlet fever and many wound and childbirth infections that orthodox doctors could not successfully cure, now became treatable. “As deaths caused by bacterial infections plummeted, a grateful world needed a hero. Fleming alone became such an object of public adulation, probably for two reasons. First, Florey shunned the press, while Fleming seemed to revel in the publicity…”
In 1944 Fleming received a a knighthood (with Florey), and jointly received the Nobel Prize for Medicine (with Florey and Chain) in 1945. “By this time, even Fleming was aware that penicillin had an Achilles’ heel. He wrote in 1946 that “the administration of too small doses … leads to the production of resistant strains of bacteria.” It’s a problem that plagues us to this day.” [5]
Isn’t it curious how Fleming jointly received a Nobel Prize for a drug he didn’t develop, but discovered it’s potential, yet Robert Malone didn’t receive acknowledgement the 2023 Nobel Prize for his role in the discovery of RNA to elicit an immune response, and thus it’s potential as a vaccine?