We are attempting to overcome this pandemic with one hand (maybe both) tied behind our backs. We’ve seen the wholesale eradication of scientists and engineers that formed the backbone of our government- from agencies like EPA, Agriculture, Interior Affairs. We’ve wiped away all the professional leadership of the National Intelligence Agency. More to the point, we’ve even seen the pandemic response team dismissed.
That last group did pose a problem when we were attempting to battle the Ebola epidemic. The response team was comprised of a bunch of egotistical- but highly talented and knowledgeable- folks, each reaching for the spotlight. But, Obama reigned them in- placing the equivalent of an orchestra conductor over each team- the one in the NSC (National Security Agency) and the other in DHS (Department of Homeland Security). That forced them to finally play well in the sandbox with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the NIH (National Institutes of Health), and the State Department.
Such talent would have been nice to have during our current coronavirus pandemic, but, hey, so would a lot of things that haven’t happened with TheDonald around.
Which reminds us of a story of two firms. One that has been subsumed (ok, twice) and the other that’s a thriving entity.
First, even more history.
Way back before the Great Depression, Dr. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin- and that it killed certain bacteria. But, he could never isolate the primary active ingredient and, therefore, make enough of it to continue testing. That was left to Dr. Howard Florey (Oxford University) at the advent of World War II to do. (And, it certainly obtained a wide-spread reputation when he treated a cop, overcome with serious infection, with the drug- who turned the corner 24 hours later. Unfortunately, even Florey couldn’t produce enough of the penicillin, so the cop eventually succumbed.)
FDR, before we were hit by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, convened a special conference, populated with academia and industrial researchers. The subject? Let’s get together and solve the penicillin problem. Vannevar Bush of MIT was the one who put the bug in FDR’s ear and headed up this effort.
(We used to do this a lot. I recall a meeting in the outskirts of DC [back when I was bicoastal of sorts, splitting my time between Long Beach [CA] and Charlottesville [VA]. That meeting was convened to develop a national plan for water reuse. Yes, we knew that we were having a problem with water supply back in the 1980s. And, I also participated in an earlier one dealing with kidney failure and shortages.)
Three of the people present at that meeting in the 1940s were George Jeffreys, Jasper Kane, and John McKeen. All of them were working for what (was then) small companies. George had his own biotechnology (ok, bacterial production) company [the George A Jeffreys Company, Inc.] and Kane and McKeen worked for Pfizer.
George spent most of his time producing better products for animal nutrition, lactic acid production, and anaerobe fermentation. (Below is an article he wrote describing better cereals for fox nutrition.) He also worked on bioaugmentation/bioremediation of aquatic environments. George relied on solid-state fermentation to accomplish his goals; that means he grew microbes on bran flakes, peanut hulls, soy, etc. He was among those responsible for producing those first batches of penicillin.
Jeffrey’s penicillin process was akin to the one being tried at first by Pfizer. These two groups were using shallow pans (as well as flasks) to produce the antibiotic. Just like they did originally to make their citric acid. Before Pfizer opted for deep tank fermentation.
George Jeffreys was able to scale up the penicillin manufacture, but his effort was overshadowed by the developments of Kane and McKeen at Pfizer.
In those days, Pfizer was a pretty small firm, situated in the shadow of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Sure, it was almost 100 years old (having started in 1849). But, essentially, Pfizer was a vitamin production firm back then. (OK. It also produced citric acid. One of the vital components of Coca Cola.)
But, Kane and McKeen (those 2 folks from Pfizer) determined that penicillin could be grown in a deep tank, the same process they used to make citric acid. Which meant penicillin could be easily produced and refined for use. More importantly, they scaled up their idea to become a commercial operation within four months, by 1 March 1944. Those fourteen 7500 gallon tanks produced more penicillin in one month than was made in the entire year before. Making it possible for every Allied invader on D-day to carry the antibiotic in an injection kit on his person, to battle potential infection.
This development meant that our soldiers would not succumb to diseases as they fought the war. While the death rate was 14.1 per thousand during World War I, that statistic became 0.6 per 1000 in World War II. (Kind of like what happened to folks undergoing bowel surgery after Colyte/Golytely were introduced.)
While this was effected as a civic duty, it helped transform Pfizer into the drug behemoth that it has become- a $ 50 billion a year enterprise.
Maybe someone ought to convince our federal government to conscript academia and industry to develop therapies to eradicate the coronavirus threat. (We have folks like Vannevar waiting in the wings to do the same for today’s generation. But, the current administration doesn’t really trust folks way smarter than they so I’m not holding my breath.)
