Penicillin was discovered by chance in 1928. Not so the variant resistant to gastric acid – this was developed by the chemist Ernst Brandl at Biochemie Kundl. Penicillin could thus be administered orally in tablet form for the first time. In 1952, a patent application was filed for the new penicillin V (V stands for Victory), and in 1953 it was launched on the market under the name “Ospen”. Biochemie Kundl became a pharmaceutical company of world renown, is today part of Novartis and plans to use its own capacities for the production of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Ernst Brandl received numerous honors, including the Auer von Welsbach Medal and the Bristol Award for Anti-Infective Research, as well as the Grand Decoration of Honor of the Republic of Austria in 1973. The Med-Uni Innsbruck awards the Prof. Brandl Prize every 2 years.
Ernst Brandl contributed his fortune to a foundation, through which social institutions have been receiving grants and far-sighted research has been rewarded for more than 25 years.