Prontosil: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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It has been argued that IG Farben might have made its breakthrough discovery with sulfanilamide in 1932 but, recognizing that it would not be patentable as an antibacterial, had spent the next three years developing Prontosil as a new, and therefore more easily patentable, compound.<ref>Comroe, J. H. jun. Retrospectoscope. Missed Opportunities. p. 1168 [http://www-archive.thoracic.org/sections/about-ats/centennial/retrospectroscope/articles/resources/21-MissedOpportunities.pdf American Review of Respiratory Disease 114 (1976): 1167–74 ]</ref> However Dr. Daniel Bovet, who has received a Nobel Prize for medicine, and one of the authors of the French discovery, wrote in 1988: "Today, we have the proof that the chemists of Elberfeld were unaware of the properties of sulfanilamide at the time of our discovery and that it was by our communication that they were informed. To be convinced about it, it is enough to attentively examine the monthly reports of work of Mietzsch and Klarer during years 1935–1936 and especially the Log Book of [[Gerhard Domagk|Gerhard Domagk]]: the formula of sulphamide is consigned there – without comment – not before January 1936."<ref>Daniel Bovet, ''Une chimie qui guérit. Histoire de la découverte des sulfamides,'' Payot, Coll. Médecine et sociétés, Paris, 1988, p. 132. Original quotation: "Nous possédons aujourd'hui la preuve qu'au moment de notre découverte les chimistes d'Elberfeld [...] ignoraient complètement [les propriétés] du sulfamide et que ce fut par notre communication qu'ils en furent informés. Il suffit, pour s'en convaincre, d'examiner attentivement les rapports mensuels de travail de Mietzsch et Klarer au cours des années 1935–1936 et surtout le Journal de bord de G. Domagk : la formule du sulfamide n'y est consignée – sans commentaire – qu'en janvier 1936."</ref>

Dr. Alexander Ashley Weech (1895-1977), a pioneer pediatrician, while working at Columbia University's College of Physicians & Surgeons (in the affiliated New York's Babies Hospital) in 1935 treated the first patient in the United States with an antibiotic, prontosil (Sulfonamidochrysoidine), ushering in a new era of medicine across the Atlantic.<ref name="Famous Men of Medicine">Chandler, C.A. (1950). Famous Men of Medicine. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.</ref> Dr. Weech had researched Domagk's work and "was so intrigued by [the] experiments and by the three accompanying clinical articles on Prontosil that he contacted a pharmaceutical house, obtained a supply of the drug, and proceeded to treat a patient who had serious streptococcal disease."<ref>Forbes, G. B. (1972). A. Ashley Weech, MD. American Journal of Diseases of Children, 124(6), 818-819. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1972.02110180020002</ref> Dr. Perrin Long and Dr. [[Eleanor Albert Bliss|Eleanor Bliss]] of Johns Hopkins University began their pioneering work later on prontosil and sulfanilamide which led to the large scale production of this new treatment and saving the lives of millions of infected people.<ref name="Famous Men of Medicine" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Interesting Facts About Antibiotics |url=http://www.emedexpert.com/tips/antibiotics-facts.shtml |website=emedexpert.com |accessdate=12 December 2014}}</ref>

Sulfanilamide was cheap to produce and (due to the early date of its original composition of matter patent which made no reference to a medical use) was already off-patent when its antibacterial properties were first made public. Since the sulfanilamide moiety was also easy to link into other molecules, chemists soon gave rise to hundreds of second-generation sulfonamide drugs. As a result, Prontosil failed to make the profits in the marketplace hoped for by Bayer. Although quickly eclipsed by these newer "sulfa drugs" and, in the mid-1940s and through the 1950s by penicillin and other antibacterial that proved more effective against more types of bacteria, Prontosil remained on the market until the 1960s. Prontosil's discovery ushered in the era of antibacterial drugs and had a profound effect on pharmaceutical research, drug laws, and medical history.