Cimetidine
Cimetidina
- Date
- 1972 · confidence high
- Place
- Welwyn Garden City, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- James W. Black and C. Robin Ganellin (Smith, Kline & French)
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Building on the rational understanding of how histamine acts, Black and Ganellin designed cimetidine, the first H2-receptor antagonist able to curb gastric acid secretion; it was among the first drugs developed by rational design and the first ever to top a billion dollars in annual sales.
What it led to
- Non-surgical treatment of peptic ulcers
- The entire later family of H2 antagonists (ranitidine, famotidine)