The penicillin war: India's journey from self-sufficiency to dependence on China

​In the fifties and sixties, leading drug companies of that time such as Barodabased Alembic, Sarabhai Chemicals, Hindustan Antibiotics and India Drugs and Pharmaceuticals took the first step in making penicillin, seeing the big opportunity. They invested heavily in large fermentation facilities, a maze of processes that usually took 2,000 steps at that time.