Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020

Cephalosporins: Case Histories of Significant Medical Advances

by Amar Bhidé, Srikant Datar and Katherine Stebbins

Abstract

Our case history describes the development of three generations of cephalosporins – antibiotics that have significantly reduced hospital infections. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) Early (pre-cephalosporin) antibiotics were developed in the first half of the 20th century. 2) Drug companies developed first-generation cephalosporins in the 1960s using foundational discoveries made by researchers in Italy and the UK in the 1940s and 1950s. 3) Continued modifications of cephalosporin molecules resulted in second and third generation of the drugs in the 1970s and 1980s.

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;

Language: English Format: Print 19 pages SSRN Read Now

Citation:

Bhidé, Amar, Srikant Datar, and Katherine Stebbins. "Cephalosporins: Case Histories of Significant Medical Advances." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-133, July 2020. (Revised August 2020.)

About the Authors

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Amar Bhide
Visiting Professor of Business Administration
General Management

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Srikant M. Datar
Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Business Administration
Senior Associate Dean for University Affairs
Accounting and Management

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