Editing Howard Florey (section)

=== Cephalosporins ===
After the war ended, Florey directed his team at the Sir William Dunn School in the investigation of antibiotic substances produced by plants and microorganisms. They studied claviformin, proactinomycin, helvolic acid, [[mycophenolic acid]], hirsutic acid, [[bacitracin]] and micrococcin. In 1949, they published ''Antibiotics: A Survey of Penicillin, Streptomycin, and Other Antimicrobial Substances from Fungi, Actinomycetes, Bacteria and Plants'', a massive two-volume work. Florey also edited ''Lectures on General Pathology'', which was published in 1954.<ref name="ADB" />{{sfn|Abraham|1971|pp=269–272}} Chain departed in 1948, but [[Guy Newton]] joined the team in his place as its biochemist. Financial support came from the Medical Research Council, the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, and American pharmaceutical companies.{{sfn|Abraham|1971|pp=269–272}}

In September 1953 Newton and Abraham isolated crystalline [[cephalosporin C]] from a fungus originally isolated by [[Giuseppe Brotzu]] in Sardinia,<ref name="pmid11449655">{{cite journal |vauthors=Bo G |title=Giuseppe Brotzu and the discovery of cephalosporins |journal=Clinical Microbiology and Infection |volume=6 |issue= Suppl 3|pages=6–9 |date=2000 |pmid=11449655 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-0691.2000.tb02032.x|doi-access=free }}</ref> and found that it had antibiotic properties.{{sfn|Abraham|1971|pp=269–272}}{{sfn|Wilson|1976|pp=250–251}} Their initial evaluation of the antibiotic activity of cephalosporin C was that it was low, so Abraham sent Florey, who was in Australia, a letter asking if research should continue. Florey saw an intellectually challenging line of research, and told them to continue. They found that it was resistant to penicillinase produced by [[gram-positive bacteria]]. When he returned to Oxford, Florey and Jennings conducted a series of experiments that determined that it was not toxic to mice but could protect them against streptococci and penicillinase-producing staphylococci. The Oxford team analysed the chemical properties of the [[cephalosporin]] ring system, opening the door to the production of semisynthetic cephalosporins created through replacing [[side chain]]s, as had been done with penicillin to create semisynthetic penicillins.{{sfn|Abraham|1971|pp=269–272}}{{sfn|Bickel|1995|pp=257–259}} "Everybody I have questioned who was involved in the development of cephalosporin C," science writer David Wilson reported, "when asked if one man was responsible for keeping the project going, replied: 'Florey'."{{sfn|Wilson|1976|p=253}}

Controversy over British firms having to pay royalties to American ones for the use of the deep submergence techniques developed in the United States to produce penicillin when penicillin was seen as a British innovation led to the establishment of the [[National Research Development Corporation]] (NRDC) in June 1948. The Oxford team patented their work on cephalosporins and assigned the patents to the NRDC. By 1978, the annual world sales of cephalosporins were worth over £600,000 ({{Inflation|UK|600000|1978|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}) and the NRDC was reaping £100,000 ({{Inflation|UK|100000|1978|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}) a year in royalties. Florey received a 0.5 per cent share in the last two years of his life.{{sfn|Williams|1984|pp=314–316}}