Monk's moments: Lost property
Barry Monk
The development of penicillin by Florey and Chain in Oxford in 1940 is one of the most famous stories in medical history. Unfortunately, they failed to patent their discovery, so that by 1945 Britain was being forced to buy imported penicillin from the USA. The lesson was rapidly learned, and in 1946 the rights to erythromycin were sold by Oxford University for £2 million (perhaps equivalent to £50 million at today’s prices).
Dermatology in practice 2002; 10(1): 31–31
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