Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Major Medical Breakthroughs in the Twentieth Century by Morton A. Meyers
Authors: Morton A. Meyers
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Poe, and O'Neill.) The pasteurization of milk, establishment of sanitariums, and posting of “No Spitting” signs were all public health measures that were eventually taken to control tuberculosis.
Waksman was hailed as a medical hero—the discoverer of the world's newest “miracle drug”—whose victory over TB resonated with symbolic value in the wake of World War II. In the resulting avalanche of public acclaim, he toured the world, gave lectures, and took tours of medical facilities. Although Schatz, the graduate student, had actually made the discovery, Waksman, as head of the department, was in a position to arrange for commercial development and get the glory. He won the highly prestigious Albert Lasker Award, often a presager of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and was featured on the cover of the November 7, 1949, issue of Time magazine.
Other “Down and Dirty” Drugs
With the success of streptomycin, the pharmaceutical industry embarked upon a massive program of screening soil samples from every corner of the globe. Other soil microorganisms soon yielded their secrets, and it was the actinomycetes that generated a cornucopia of new antibiotics. 9
Chloramphenicol (chloromycetin)—so named because it contains chlorine—was isolated in 1947 from a strain found in asample of Venezuelan soil. The tetracyclines came from various streptomyces and proved of great benefit as broad-spectrum antibiotics, useful against a wide array of infections: Aureomycin was introduced in 1948; Terramycin, so named because it was cultured from soil samples collected near Pfizer's Terre Haute factory, in 1950; tetracycline (Achromycin) in 1952; and Declomycin in 1959. Erythromycin was cultured in 1952 from a soil sample collected in the Philippines. And vancomycin, one of the most potent antibiotics ever found, comes from an actinomycete isolated in 1956 from a clump of Indonesian mud. 10
But the success of streptomycin also brought problems in its wake, involving who was to reap the rewards of its discovery. Rutgers was able to maintain the patent and the royalties from the drug's sales, based on nonexclusive licensing, yielding a huge financial windfall for the university and Waksman personally. Rutgers was then receiving two cents for each gram of the drug sold, and by 1950 its royalties amounted to almost $2.5 million. Waksman received some $350,000 in royalties.
Then something happened that thoroughly rocked the scientific community. Albert Schatz filed a legal claim demanding formal recognition as codiscoverer of streptomycin and a share of the royalties. This widely publicized lawsuit by a former doctoral student against a distinguished, internationally recognized professor was unprecedented.
Schatz's name had been listed first on the journal articles announcing streptomycin to the medical world, in accord with Waksman's policy of encouraging discoveries by his students or assistants. Furthermore, Schatz as well as Waksman was listed on the patent application filed by Rutgers in January 1945. Streptomycin was the subject of Schatz's Ph.D. thesis, which he defended in 1945. Waksman had always considered Schatz a brilliant star among his students, but the twenty-six-year-old, feeling that he was unfairly being shut out by his mentor, who was now enjoying worldwide acclaim over streptomycin, left Rutgers resentfully in 1946.
A Rutgers lawyer dismissed Schatz as “a carefully supervised laboratory assistant,” and “a small cog in a large wheel.” 11 Waksman felt that the discovery of streptomycin was the last inevitable step in a path he had personally paved, with the prior discoveries of actinomycin and streptothricin, and that Schatz was lucky to be “in at the finish.” It was Waksman, after all, who had established the entire program of antibiotic research.
Shocked and embarrassed, Waksman reluctantly agreed to settle. He acknowledged in court that Schatz was “entitled to credit legally and scientifically as
Waksman was hailed as a medical hero—the discoverer of the world's newest “miracle drug”—whose victory over TB resonated with symbolic value in the wake of World War II. In the resulting avalanche of public acclaim, he toured the world, gave lectures, and took tours of medical facilities. Although Schatz, the graduate student, had actually made the discovery, Waksman, as head of the department, was in a position to arrange for commercial development and get the glory. He won the highly prestigious Albert Lasker Award, often a presager of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and was featured on the cover of the November 7, 1949, issue of Time magazine.
Other “Down and Dirty” Drugs
With the success of streptomycin, the pharmaceutical industry embarked upon a massive program of screening soil samples from every corner of the globe. Other soil microorganisms soon yielded their secrets, and it was the actinomycetes that generated a cornucopia of new antibiotics. 9
Chloramphenicol (chloromycetin)—so named because it contains chlorine—was isolated in 1947 from a strain found in asample of Venezuelan soil. The tetracyclines came from various streptomyces and proved of great benefit as broad-spectrum antibiotics, useful against a wide array of infections: Aureomycin was introduced in 1948; Terramycin, so named because it was cultured from soil samples collected near Pfizer's Terre Haute factory, in 1950; tetracycline (Achromycin) in 1952; and Declomycin in 1959. Erythromycin was cultured in 1952 from a soil sample collected in the Philippines. And vancomycin, one of the most potent antibiotics ever found, comes from an actinomycete isolated in 1956 from a clump of Indonesian mud. 10
But the success of streptomycin also brought problems in its wake, involving who was to reap the rewards of its discovery. Rutgers was able to maintain the patent and the royalties from the drug's sales, based on nonexclusive licensing, yielding a huge financial windfall for the university and Waksman personally. Rutgers was then receiving two cents for each gram of the drug sold, and by 1950 its royalties amounted to almost $2.5 million. Waksman received some $350,000 in royalties.
Then something happened that thoroughly rocked the scientific community. Albert Schatz filed a legal claim demanding formal recognition as codiscoverer of streptomycin and a share of the royalties. This widely publicized lawsuit by a former doctoral student against a distinguished, internationally recognized professor was unprecedented.
Schatz's name had been listed first on the journal articles announcing streptomycin to the medical world, in accord with Waksman's policy of encouraging discoveries by his students or assistants. Furthermore, Schatz as well as Waksman was listed on the patent application filed by Rutgers in January 1945. Streptomycin was the subject of Schatz's Ph.D. thesis, which he defended in 1945. Waksman had always considered Schatz a brilliant star among his students, but the twenty-six-year-old, feeling that he was unfairly being shut out by his mentor, who was now enjoying worldwide acclaim over streptomycin, left Rutgers resentfully in 1946.
A Rutgers lawyer dismissed Schatz as “a carefully supervised laboratory assistant,” and “a small cog in a large wheel.” 11 Waksman felt that the discovery of streptomycin was the last inevitable step in a path he had personally paved, with the prior discoveries of actinomycin and streptothricin, and that Schatz was lucky to be “in at the finish.” It was Waksman, after all, who had established the entire program of antibiotic research.
Shocked and embarrassed, Waksman reluctantly agreed to settle. He acknowledged in court that Schatz was “entitled to credit legally and scientifically as
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