It may be the difference between eradicating the disease in 30 years or getting a marginally less painful treatment now. The latter is extremely important. I'd prefer the former, myself. Of course, given that we often get neither...
I see. Formal mathematicians were just on the edge, just almost ready, just panting with desire--to produce penecillin, but, out of professional couresy, waited 30 years or so for Fleming to stumble onto it with stupid old biological thinking. How polite.