{"id":617,"date":"2014-07-17T09:44:17","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T13:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/?p=617"},"modified":"2015-01-14T15:28:37","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T20:28:37","slug":"greenwood-antimicrobial-drugs-chronicle-of-a-twentieth-century-medical-triumph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2014\/07\/17\/617\/greenwood-antimicrobial-drugs-chronicle-of-a-twentieth-century-medical-triumph\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenwood: Antimicrobial Drugs \u2013 Chronicle of a Twentieth Century Medical Triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is not meant to be a book review. \u00a0I just want to\u00a0express my gratitude\u00a0to Prof. Greenwood for writing a book about\u00a0the remarkable story\u00a0of antibiotic discovery\u00a0and development of the last century. \u00a0It is clearly a labor of love, written with knowledge, enthusiasm, wisdom and perspective.<\/p>\n

\"Antimicrobial<\/a>
Greenwood – Antimicrobial Drugs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

He takes us on a journey to\u00a0many countries introduces us to researchers and their teams who worked on hundreds of antibiotic leads, some turning into useful drugs,\u00a0others long forgotten.\u00a0 All this is distilled into a\u00a0430 page book, replete with\u00a0facts and vignettes of the personalities involved, their characters and flaws, their work conditions and funding problems.<\/p>\n

I had forgotten that there once was a drug spelled az”th”reonam, that a promising drug called latamoxef \/ moxalactam ran into\u00a0toxicity problems (MTT side chain!) , that ampiicillin, amoxicillin, and amoxiclav were Beecham success stories in perfect succession, and that Drs. Schatz and Waksman fought in court over who should rightfully get the credit for discovering streptomycin.<\/p>\n

This book reminded me of James Burke\u2019s \u201cConnections\u201d in the Scientific American where the author tells the story of serendipitous\u00a0encounters which nonetheless triggered\u00a0advances\u00a0in science, in\u00a0the arts or in politics, almost like the butterfly effect in chaos theory.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntimicrobial Drugs\u201d is the product of a truly encyclopedic mind. Greenwood is a researcher and teacher\u00a0who excels in telling\u00a0us about connections between scientists. \u00a0Besides persistence and scientific genius, he\u00a0gives due credit to the role\u00a0of chance observations \u00a0A major\u00a0discovery worthy of a Nobel Prize may have come about because of shear coincidence.<\/p>\n

He takes us back to a time when\u00a0collaborations between academia and industry were\u00a0less burdened by legal matters than nowadays and when\u00a0governments supported international exchange of data and know-how\u00a0to further a worthwhile\u00a0goal, as it happened with\u00a0penicillin production on\u00a0an industrial scale.<\/p>\n

I don’t want to give the impression that this\u00a0book is too academic, or\u00a0overwhelming in scope, depth or detail. Rest assured, this is not the case.\u00a0 The writing is elegant and\u00a0pulls the reader \u2018in\u201d. \u00a0With the author’s\u00a0profound knowledge of the subject matter ‘Antimicrobial Drugs’ becomes more than just a collection of facts and data. \u00a0It is actually a highly entertaining book as well.

\u00a0 \u00a0Not for the first time in the history of antimicrobial chemotherapy, over-enthusiastic acceptance by prescribers of valuable drugs has jeopardized their long-term prospects<\/span><\/em><\/span>
\n GREENWOOD<\/span> – PAGE 261<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/p>\n

I had fun reading the chapters, learning much\u00a0about the people who gave us the medicines we take so much for granted nowadays. From today’s perspective where antibiotic resistance is so much becoming a problem again, we wish for a new ‘Oxford group’ to\u00a0work on the next generation of miracle drugs and more prudent use of such valuable assets.<\/p>\n

\n

Reference:<\/strong><\/p>\n

David Greenwood: Antimicrobial Drugs. Chronicle of a Twentieth Century Medical Triumph. \u00a0Oxford University Press. \u00a02008<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is not meant to be a book review. \u00a0I just want to\u00a0express my gratitude\u00a0to Prof. Greenwood for writing a book about\u00a0the remarkable story\u00a0of antibiotic discovery\u00a0and development of the last century. \u00a0It is clearly a labor of love, written with knowledge, enthusiasm, wisdom and perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[329,403,331,334,336,333,328,327,332,340,335,337,341,338,330,339],"class_list":["post-617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the_viewpoint","tag-20th-century","tag-antibiotic-blog","tag-antibiotic-discovery","tag-antibiotic-stewardship","tag-aztreonam","tag-book-review","tag-chronicle","tag-greenwood","tag-history-of-antibiotics","tag-james-burke","tag-moxalactam","tag-mtt-side-chain","tag-schatz","tag-streptomycin","tag-triumph","tag-waksman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KWFr-9X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":354,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2014\/06\/21\/354\/the-rapid-rise-of-sulfonamide-diversity\/","url_meta":{"origin":617,"position":0},"title":"The Rapid Rise of Sulfonamide Diversity","author":"Harald","date":"June 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Shortly after Domagk and H\u00f6rlein announced their discovery of the antibacterial properties of the dye sulfamidochrysoidine (Prontosil) in 1935, numerous\u00a0chemical companies\u00a0set out to\u00a0modify the chemical structure. \u00a0They soon recognized the sulfa component as the true antibacterial and produced an incredible number of derivatives (more than 5000 different compounds!!) by 1945.[1,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Did you know...?"","block_context":{"text":"Did you know...?","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/interesting_facts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Prontosil","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Prontosil-300x136.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1629,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/06\/29\/1629\/nitrofurantoin-an-old-drug-resurrected-needs-prospective-scrutiny\/","url_meta":{"origin":617,"position":1},"title":"Nitrofurantoin \u2013 An Old Drug Resurrected Needs Prospective Scrutiny","author":"Harald","date":"June 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When older drugs get reintroduced into clinical practice because pathogens have developed resistance to newer agents, it comes at the price of uncertainty. Often, older drugs were approved based on rather limited\u00a0data, often considered incomplete by today\u2019s standards.\u00a0 Take colistin as an example: approved in the early 60ies, we still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The News"","block_context":{"text":"The News","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/the_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"UTI - slider","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/UTI-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/UTI-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/UTI-slider.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2370,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2016\/03\/18\/2370\/overcoming-antimicrobial-resistance-a-european-report-recommends-deja-vu-action\/","url_meta":{"origin":617,"position":2},"title":"Overcoming Antimicrobial Resistance \u2013 A European Report Recommends Deja-Vu Action","author":"Harald","date":"March 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes one comes across a particularly well-written policy document which summarizes the status quo of antimicrobial resistance by connecting and synthesizing data from all kinds of sources into a coherent framework. The 2015 OECD Report on Antimicrobial Resistance in G7 Countries and Beyond: Economic Issues, Policies and Options for Action\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Did you know...?"","block_context":{"text":"Did you know...?","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/interesting_facts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"OECD slider copy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/OECD-slider-copy-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/OECD-slider-copy-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/OECD-slider-copy-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1722,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/07\/15\/1722\/streptomyces-the-industrious-antibiotic-producer\/","url_meta":{"origin":617,"position":3},"title":"Streptomyces \u2013 The Industrious Antibiotic Producer","author":"Harald","date":"July 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Like other\u00a0actinomycetes, the Streptomyces group of microbes straddles the somewhat artificial boundary between bacteria and fungi.\u00a0Growth on culture plates looks 'fungal' and the organism produces spores and germtubes that look like mycelia.\u00a0 Nonetheless these soil organisms are bacteria and of great interest to microbiologists as the producers of many antibiotics\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Did you know...?"","block_context":{"text":"Did you know...?","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/interesting_facts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Streptomyces slider-2 copy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Streptomyces-slider-2-copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Streptomyces-slider-2-copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Streptomyces-slider-2-copy.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1521,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/06\/07\/1521\/cattle-and-pigs-and-chickens-oh-yeah\/","url_meta":{"origin":617,"position":4},"title":"Cattle and Pigs and Chickens, Oh Yeah!","author":"Harald","date":"June 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) Final Rule was announced earlier this month by FDA, the accompanying press release called it a \u2018major step towards judicious antibiotic use\u2019 in veterinary medicine\u00a0[1]. There are several elements which look good, at least on paper: As prescribers of any and all antibiotics it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Did you know...?"","block_context":{"text":"Did you know...?","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/interesting_facts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"images","src":"http:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/images.jpe","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5289,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2025\/09\/11\/5289\/antibiotic-use-in-veterinary-medicine\/","url_meta":{"origin":617,"position":5},"title":"ANTIBIOTIC USE IN VETERINARY MEDICINE","author":"Harald","date":"September 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A ton is a tonne, by any other name.\u00a0 A tonne, also called a metric tonne, is the equivalent of 1,000 kg.\u00a0 There are also imperial tonnes and long tonnes which have a slightly different conversion factor:\u00a0 1 tonne of either is equivalent to 1.01604691 metric tonnes. The amount of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Did you know...?"","block_context":{"text":"Did you know...?","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/interesting_facts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Picture2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1230,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions\/1230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}