Theoretically, modern medicine might be called the "age of antibiotics." Actually, the new wonder drugs (like neomycin, see below) have been comparatively scarce and expensive because they had to be grown, slowly and tediously, from molds. Last week Detroit's Parke, Davis & Co. made a dramatic announcement: the first practical synthetic production of an important antibiotic, chloromycetin. The process means that chloromycetin will be quickly and cheaply available for any doctor. It may also point the way to mass production of other antibiotics.
Like most modern advances, the achievement was due to teamwork. But a large part of the credit goes to pretty Dr. Mildred Rebstock, a 28-year-old research chemist who chose a career in research chemistry because "I just liked that sort of thing better than some others." Born in Indiana, Dr. Rebstock (Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1945) joined Parke, Davis soon after she left school. She was assigned to the chloromycetin research project in 1947. After two years of testing, she became the first to isolate a synthetic form of chloromycetin that worked on human patients. The life-saving antibiotic contains two chemicals which are normally poisonous: a nitrobenzene compound and a derivative of dichloracetic acid, now used chiefly for getting rid of warts.
As a result of the new process, the drug firm says that chloromycetin can now be made in quantities large enough to meet all the demands of the medical profession. The demands, large already, are likely to grow. Chloromycetin, announced in October 1947, is the first drug to work against typhoid fever (TIME, July 12), has proved effective against a steadily mounting list of diseases. Like aureomycin, it works against the group of diseases caused by the tiny organisms called rickettsiae, including typhus fever, scrub typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. In a few cases it has worked against primary atypical ("virus") pneumonia.
Penicillin is still the No. 1 antibiotic. The race between researchers to produce an antibiotic that can be called No. 2 is fast improving the world's health.