Azithromycin
Azitromicina
- Date
- 1980 · confidence high
- Place
- Pliva, Zagreb, Croatia
- Credited to
- Gabrijela Kobrehel, Slobodan Đokić and Zrinka Tamburašev (Pliva)
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A semisynthetic 15-membered macrolide antibiotic derived from erythromycin, with greater acid stability and a long half-life that allows courses of just a few days. It was discovered in the laboratory of the Yugoslav pharmaceutical firm Pliva.
It was patented in 1981 in Yugoslavia and marketed there in 1988; Pfizer's 1986 licence made the product a worldwide success. Bacterial resistance to the drug is now a growing problem.
What it led to
- short courses for respiratory, ear and sexually transmitted infections
- licensing to Pfizer (1986) and worldwide marketing as Zithromax
- one of the most prescribed antibiotics in the world