Experiment Eleven
Dark Secrets Behind the Discovery of a Wonder Drug
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In 1943, Albert Schatz, a young Rutgers College Ph.D. student, worked on a wartime project in microbiology professor Selman Waksman's lab, searching for an antibiotic to fight infections on the front lines and at home. In his eleventh experiment on a common bacterium found in farmyard soil, Schatz discovered streptomycin, the first effective cure for tuberculosis, one of the world's deadliest diseases.
As director of Schatz's research, Waksman took credit for the discovery, belittled Schatz's work, and secretly enriched himself with royalties from the streptomycin patent filed by the pharmaceutical company Merck. In an unprecedented lawsuit, young Schatz sued Waksman, and was awarded the title of "co-discoverer" and a share of the royalties. But two years later, Professor Waksman alone was awarded the Nobel Prize. Schatz disappeared into academic obscurity.
For the first time, acclaimed author and journalist Peter Pringle unravels the intrigues behind one of the most important discoveries in the history of medicine. The story unfolds on a tiny college campus in New Jersey, but its repercussions spread worldwide. The streptomycin patent was a breakthrough for the drug companies, overturning patent limits on products of nature and paving the way for today's biotech world. As dozens more antibiotics were found, many from the same family as streptomycin, the drug companies created oligopolies and reaped big profits. Pringle uses firsthand accounts and archives in the United States and Europe to reveal the intensely human story behind the discovery that started a revolution in the treatment of infectious diseases and shaped the future of Big Pharma.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The rift between eminent microbiologist Selman Waksman and his brilliant graduate student Albert Schatz was a spectacular fallout in the annals of science. In this riveting history of the discovery of one of the most important drugs of the last century streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis journalist Pringle (Food, Inc.) argues that the story of the co-discoverers of the antibiotic is a fascinating human as well as scientific drama. Pringle not only recaps the split between the Rutgers researchers but the part played by the pharmaceutical giant Merck, which Waksman consulted for and which filed the scientists' patent application and then leased the rights from Rutgers to make the drug. Streptomycin led to countless happy endings, not least for Waksman, who claimed the spotlight for himself, leaving Schatz ignored and bitter. When Waksman worked out a deal to reap 20% of Rutgers's take of the royalties, Schatz turned to the courts to reclaim his co-inventor status. Pringle skillfully relates an important tale of a life-saving scientific discovery tarnished by egotism and injustice.
