Benzylpenicillin of penicillin allergy. Use during pregnancy is generally safe. It is in the penicillin and β-lactam class of medications. Benzylpenicillin was discovered in 1929 by Alexander Fleming and came into commercial use in 1942. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. The wholesale cost in the developing world is about US$0.24–2.72 per day. In the United States a course of treatment costs $100–200. As an antibiotic, benzylpenicillin is noted to possess effectiveness mainly against Gram-positive organisms. Some Gram-negative organisms such as "Neisseria gonorrhoeae" and "Leptospira
Joan S. Valentine Joan S. Valentine Joan Selverstone Valentine (born 1945) is a biological inorganic chemist and biochemist. Valentine's current work examines the role of transition metals, metalloenzymes, and oxidative stress in health. Her foremost expertise is superoxide anion and its functional enzyme superoxide dismutase. Valentine has been a member of the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles since 1980, she has served as Editor-in-Chief of "Accounts of Chemical Research" since 1994, and she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005. In 1967, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Smith College and a Ph.D.