Career Milestones
"Wonder Drug" (1949)
Scientists from Minnesota's Mayo Clinic made headlines in 1949 when
they discovered that the steroid cortisone could ease the symptoms
of rheumatoid arthritis. This painful disease, which even today
affects more than two million Americans, cripples patients by
inflaming their joints and destroying cartilage. But cortisone was
extremely scarce, and the sudden demand created by the Mayo Clinic's
dramatic announcement drove prices up over $4,000 an ounce—and
sent scientists scrambling for new ways to make it. While many
chemists attempted to produce the chemical from scratch, Julian
tried a seemingly simpler approach: synthesizing an almost identical
steroid called Compound S, which needed just one oxygen atom to
become cortisone. Scientists from Michigan's Upjohn Company soon
discovered that a common mold could provide Compound S with the
needed atom, eventually making the steroid a key ingredient in
cortisone production, just as Julian had predicted.