All this was made possible by Nobile, a researcher working mostly alone. Born in Newark in 1920, Nobile studied at the University of California (USC)-San Diego, Washington State University, USC-Davis and USC-Berkeley ultimately graduating from USC with an AB degree in Bacteriology in 1950. That same year he went to work for Schering Corporation (now Schering-Plough) in Bloomfield, NJ.

At the time, the steroid cortisone was the primary treatment for rheumatoid arthritis but had unpleasant side effects including water retention, high blood pressure and muscle weakness. While microorganisms like bacteria could transform steroids into new and possibly more active compounds, chemists were generally skeptical of microbial transformations and didn’t expect laboratory processes based on bacteria to ever reach full industrial production. It was late 1950 or early 1951 when Nobile succeeded in using bacteria to oxidize cortisone to prednisone and hydrocortisone to prednisolone. He found that his crude extracts were more than four times more effective than natural cortisones against arthritis in mice.

Nobile had to struggle for recognition of his achievement, but eventually won the backing of Schering and the company moved from laboratory production to full-scale operation. By May, 1964, Nobile had earned a patent for invention, medical use and production of the two drugs, and Schering introduced prednisone and prednisolone, marketed under the trade names, Meticorten and Meticortelone, respectively.