Nobel Prize winners Chain and Schwartz evaluate the production of penicillin in Chile in the sixties

Abstract

In the sixties the ancient Bacteriological Institute of Chile obtained from the University of Chile the transfer of Albert Schatz, discoverer of streptomycin, to improve its penicillin production. This advisory was wasted and the situation worsened until the arrival of Mario Miranda as the new Director, who brought Sir Ernst Chain, Nobel Prize for the development of penicillin, to make an evaluation of the production plant before deciding to continue or close it. The author of these lines, who ended production in 1973, recounts the visits and the conclusions of both advisors.