 How Antibiotics are Currently Made:
Drug manufactures generate tons of antibiotics yearly by a variety of processes that differ among companies. The vast majority of antibiotics come directly from the bacteria that produce them. One way to produce enough of a desired antibiotic is by a process of fermentation. The organism that generates the antibiotic is fermented on a large scale in steel vats.
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Fermentation causes bacteria to grow and produce antibiotic broth. |
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Air and nutrients are added to the vats while stirrers mix the ingredients. The raw antibiotic broth is then filtered into a tank that contains resin beads and the impurities separated from the antibiotic. The beads, with the antibiotic attached, are treated with a solvent and the purified antibiotic crystallizes out of solution. At this point the antibiotic compound may be altered; these antibiotics are called synthetic (man-made) or semi-synthetic.
The effects of the antibiotic are then tested no various species of living things. The best method of delivery must also be determined, for example, antibiotics can be administered topically, orally, or intravenously, depending o their structure and desired effect.
As evidence of their increasing use, two million pounds of antibiotics were produced in the United States in 1954. Today, that number has increased to over 50 million pounds per year!
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