Jasper H. Kane, 101; His Method Created Penicillin in Bulk

Jasper Herbert Kane, 101, a biochemist who suggested that antibiotics could be made in mass quantities rather than dose by dose, died Tuesday in Boca Raton, Fla., of natural causes associated with aging.

Born in Brooklyn, Kane by age 16 was working at its Chas. Pfizer & Co. plant, which then manufactured chemicals for the food and drink industry. He studied nights at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now Polytechnic University) and graduated in 1928.

Penicillin, discovered in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming, was still being made dose by dose in the early 1940s, when it was badly needed to treat soldiers wounded in World War II.

In 1942, Kane devised a deep-tank fermentation process, creating mold quickly and in bulk from molasses rather than slower-acting refined sugar. His process made it possible to manufacture penicillin, streptomycin and other antibiotics in large quantities.

Pfizer, in a move that repositioned the company from a chemical to a pharmaceutical manufacturer, bought an ice-making plant in March 1943 and converted its 14 tanks to use in Kane’s fermentation process. By year’s end, the company had produced 45 million units of broad-spectrum antibiotics for the war effort.

Kane rose to vice president and biochemical research director of Pfizer, retiring in 1953.