Penicillinase.

Proof of the therapeutic action in vivo of penicillin against streptococcal and other bacterial infections. Building upon Fleming’s work (No. 1933 and 10784), the consequences of which had originally been widely unappreciated, even by Fleming himself, Chain and his co-workers concentrated penicillin and showed that it was probably the most effective chemotherapeutic drug known, and that it was relatively non-toxic. This led to mass production of the drug, which has saved untold millions of lives. Biography of Florey by G. Macfarlane, 1979.

In 1945 Chain and Florey shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Fleming "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases."

First report of the chemotherapeutic action of penicillin on humans (10 cases). 

Abraham and Chain first announced the purification of penicillin, a critical step before production of the drug could begin, in a two paragraph paper published on a single page of Nature on March 21, 1942. The method, developed by biochemist Norman Heatley, extracted penicillin from huge volumes of filtrate coming offf the production line by extracting it into amyl acetate and then back into water, using a countercurrent system. Then Edward Abraham, another biochemist, used the newly discovered technique of alumina column chromatography to remove impurities from the pencillin prior to clinical trials. The authors wrote in their announcement, "The preparation thus obtained, though not crytalline has an activity of 450-500 Oxford penicillin units per mgm., corresponding to a complete inhibition of the growth of Staphylococcus aureus in broth in a dilution of 1: 25,000,000. Pencillin must therefore regarded as one of the most powerful antibacterial substances with predominantly bacteriostatic action known."

With W. Baker.

Order of authorship of the original set: H. W. Florey, Chain, Heatley, Jennings, Sanders, Abraham, M. E. Florey.