SOME SOCIAL ASPECTS OF DISCOVERY, SYNTHESIS AND PRODUCTION OF CORTISONE IN THE 1930s–1950s

Abstract

A discovery, synthesis and therapeutic application of cortisone present a paradigm for modern translational medicine (Hillier 2007, Saenger 2010), since they represented a joint achievement of discoveries by biochemists, Edward Calvin Kendall and Tadeus Reichstein; large scale synthesis by an industrial chemist, Lewis Hastings Sarett, and therapeutic application by a rheumatologist, Philip Showalter Hench. The goal of translational medicine is to speed up the process between basic research and clinical practice, and to integrate multiple disciplines in order to understand diverse outcomes (Zhang et al. 2014). In this paper conditions that made this basic/applied/clinical research interface possible will be presented: the rise of steroid chemistry, simultaneous individual accomplishments as well as continuous cooperation among scientists, military competitiveness, and cooperation among pharmaceutical companies.