As stubborn diseases and infections tormented the world in the wake of World War II, the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming challenged the barrier the world was facing concerning the need for effective medicine. Further medical research and the advancement of penicillin production, only due to government aid, eventually broke this barrier, resulting in millions recovering from diseases once thought to be incurable. Penicillin became one of the most significant discoveries of all time, and it set a precedent of US involvement in drug production and changed the process of drug production, which sparked the Golden Age of antibiotics that created countless life-saving drugs.