1937

By spring sulfanilamide (displacing Prontosil and Prontosil Soluble) on the market in France, Britain, and U.S. (Lesch, 155). Delayed response in Britain and U.S. linked to skepticism regarding the very possibility of bacterial chemotherapy; in U.S. the response to Prontosil “occurred against a background of failure of mercurochrome and numerous other compounds from the 1910 to the early 1930s” (157). Most American physicians learned of the new drugs only in December 1936, when president’s son, FDR, Jr., was cured of a life-threatening streptococcal infection by Prontylin (= PABS, given generic name of sulfanilamide) and Prontosil Soluble, amid great publicity (151).