Die Geschichte des VEB Serum-Werk Bernburg von 1954 bis 1990 unter besonderer Berücksichtgung biogener Arzneistoffe

This research analyses the history of the VEB Serum-Werk Bernburg starting with its founding year 1954 until 1990. Furthermore, it focuses on special political and economic conditions in the GDR. After a brief introduction to the pharmaceutical industry, agriculture and history of the GDR follows a further research on manufacturing, production, product ranges and the economic development of VEB Serum-WerkBernburg’s products. In order to ensure greater clarity this research is divided into different time periods: 1954–1959, 1960–1969, 1970–1979 and 1980–1990. A special interest is seton produced biogenic medicinal substance. Therefore, this research focuses particularly on dextrans, medicinal preparations based on biogenic toxins and a selection of microbial products such as phages and microbial culture supernatants. This survey is based on evaluated library footage, journal researches and medicinal substance reports of the GDR. The VEB Serum-Werk Bernburg was founded in 1954 as a manufacturer of serum and vaccine. In the beginning the product ranges of Bernburg were produced in the VEB Serum-Werk Dessau until the factory was put in the charge of the Department of Agriculture and Forestry by the Council of Ministers in 1953. Due to this fact, it was necessary to switch the production of serum and vaccine for human medicine to a factory which was supervised by Department of Health. Therefore, VEB Serum-Werk Bernburg was founded. As a result of financial restrictions in the pharmaceutical industry the company had to find a new profile after just one year of existence. On account of decisions of the Department of Health, the needs of the agriculture industry, and own effort the factory became a leading position in the production of veterinary medicinal substance. This leading position was kept until 1990. Important products in terms of veterinary nutrition and veterinary medicine have been antibiotic feed, feed mix containing vitamins, medicinal animal feed, and aid to synchronize rutting. The use of these products increased productivity in livestock farming and became more important with the increasing industrialization of agriculture. Essential products of VEB Serum-Werk Bernburg’s human medicines are dextran preparations. In order to produce in Bernburg colloidal blood volume replacements not only a classical biotechnological method (formation of big molecules and succeeding cleavage to the desired molecular mass) was developed, but also an innovative method of controlled biosynthesis was invented and applied. This new method was the result of a successful cooperation between VEB Serum-Werk Bernburg the Institute of Process Engineering in Organic Chemistry of the Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften. During this working process it was possible to build dextran in the desired molecular mass from the outset. The preparations were called Infukoll® in different molecular masses for volume replacement after heavy blood loss (Infukoll® 6%, dextran 75 and from 1980 dextran 70), for osmotherapy (Infukoll® 10%, dextran 60) and to improve the fluidity of the blood (Infukoll® M40 and Infukoll® M40 with Mannitol 100, dextran 40). Since the late 1950s, the company's research department has been investigating the production of various dextran derivatives for the field of human medicine and beyond. Successful results were the Ursoferran® products for the control of iron deficiency anemia of piglets for veterinary medicine as well as carrier materials for the chromatography of the Epidex® series. These chromatographic materials allowed the replacement of Sephadexe® previously imported from Sweden. Furthermore, due to a lack of production capacity, the company was unable to supply a demand for dextran in other industries. Further human medical preparations, which are produced in the VEB Serum-Werk Bernburg and discussed in detail in the present work, are preparations of bacteriophages, products based on snake poisons as well as those of bacterial culture filtrates (Pyolysin®). The VEB Serum-Werk Bernburg struggled economically due to difficult conditions during the entire period of observation from 1954 until 1990. The insufficient qualitative, quantitative and on-time supply of raw materials caused a discontinuous production process. This miserable situation found its peak in 1989. Operations designed to increase production capacity had to be postponed regularly as higher-level agencies did not approve the required funds. A lack of staff led an assignment of administrative employees, who had to perform special operations in production. Therefore, it is important to appreciate and acknowledge VEB Serum-Werk Bernburg’s contributions to the development of innovative products and to pharmaceutical supply. Its extraordinary work in cooperation with universities, further research institutes and companies led to innovative progress.