Scientists were reluctant to try albicidin as a medical antibioticbecause they could not predict what bad side effects it might have.That problem somehow did not prevent the discovery, testing andadoption of penicillin. Given the urgent need for new antibiotics,perhaps medicine has become hypercautious.If they test albicidin with due care but not hypercaution, they canfind out whether it safe for humans, then use it for treatment if itis safe. They might find a great new antibiotic quickly, or theymight find it is unusable. This is worth a try, isn't it?I suspect something nastier underlies the hypercaution: perhaps pharmacompanies are not interested in using albicidin because they cannotpatent it. If they develop "better" versions, they will patent thoseand make a lot more money, at a byproduct making them too expensive inmost of the world. I suppose they don't want those expensive productsto have to compete with generic albicidin.