Streptomycin

Albert Schatz and Selman Waksman, USA, patent 2,449,866 of 1948. The first antibiotic to cure tuberculosis.

Overview

Rutgers graduate student Schatz discovered streptomycin in soil bacteria screening run by Waksman, who patented it and licensed royalty terms to Merck, then donated most rights. TB, until then a lifetime sentence, became curable; the 1952 Nobel went to Waksman alone, sparking a bitter priority fight Schatz eventually won partial credit for in the record. Soil screening then yielded neomycin and tetracycline, the antibiotic gold rush. Waksman's institute shared millions with research. Every TB ward's quiet owes this patent.