Word: penicillins
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...Hours of Tests. Penicillin G, one of the most widely used forms of the supreme antibiotic, differs from aspirin in being a prescription item, but resembles it in being free of patent, royalty and basic-research costs. Yet here again there is a huge price spread: E. R. Squibb & Sons charges the druggist $6.62 for 100 tablets of 200,000 units, while Pennex Products Co. of Verona, Pa., sells the same number, same strength, for 920. And Pennex must meet not only U.S.P. standards, but the running check on all antibiotic batches maintained by two different Government agencies...
...requires 374 tests, taking 406 hours, at 35 stages. Squibb runs a three-hour test on one of the alcohols used in manufacturing, another of 16 hours on corn-steep liquor, and one of 22 hours on city water. The U.S.P. requires none of these. Moreover, Squibb offers its penicillin G in twelve different strengths, dosages and combinations, some of which make no money, while most manufacturers of generic penicillin G make only the one or two most widely prescribed formulations, which are the moneymakers...
Other purification procedures yielded a second impurity. Not a protein, it appears to be a product of the penicillin molecule itself, which forms spontaneously after penicillin is stored for even a short time. As its formation cannot be completely prevented, penicillin injections for patients known to be sensitive are still too risky...
...findings reported in the Lancet by three research groups go far to ex plain another mystery of penicillin -why it is so much less likely to cause severe reactions when taken by mouth than when injected. It seems that much of the protein impurity is destroyed - digested, in effect - in the alimentary tract before it can get into the bloodstream...
...Paul Hilton, where a banker lectured on tight money and faculty economists examined new approaches to understanding consumer behavior. Vanderbilt offers both specialized and general seminars. Last weekend, alumni of the medical school were treated to a series of discussions on such topics as the new penicillin and the cellular aspects of the immunization mechanism. Vanderbilt A.B.s, on the other hand, were invited to a lecture on the future of the liberal arts college by Poet Allen Tate, class...