Streptomycin discovery

Before the discovery of streptomycin, pyrazinamide (126) was one of the front runners in the treatment of tuberculosis. A broad spectrum of biological activity has been associated with pyrazine derivatives, ranging from the herbicidal activity of (127) to antibiotic activity... 

Control of tuberculosis, long one of the scourges of mankind, began with the introduction of effective antibacterial agents. Thus, this disease was treated initially with some small measure of success with various sulfa drugs the advent of the antibiotic, streptomycin, provided a major advance in antitubercular therapy, as did the subsequent discovery of isoniazid and its analogs. 

Discovery of Kanamycin, and Establishment oflMC. Chloramphenicol, chlor- and oxy-tetracyclines, and pyridomycin (H. Umezawa, 1967) were active, in in vitro experiments, against strains of tuberculosis, but these drugs, in contrast to streptomycin, were clinically inactive. H. Umezawa... 

First among the aminoglycosides was streptomycin, one of several antibiotics isolated from Streptomyces species by Selman Waksman—this from S. griseus in 1944. Waksman proved to be an enormously effective seeker of antibiotics in natural products. In addition to streptomycin, he discovered neomycin, another widely used antibiotic. Less important discoveries include actinomycin, clavacin, streptothricin, grisein, fradicin, and candidin. Waksman received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1952. 

Although streptomycin was not the first antibiotic (penicillin, a fungal product, had been isolated some years earlier), its discovery was a landmark in antibiotic history. It was the first effective therapeutic for tuberculosis, a disease that had terrorized humans for cenmries and a cause of human morbidity and mortality unmatched by wars or any other pestilence. Streptomycin was the first aminoglycoside to be identified and characterized and is noteworthy in being the first useful antibiotic isolated from a bacterial source. At the present time, the use... 

Selman Waksman s commitment to the isolation and screening of soil bacteria in the search for bioactive small molecules, especially potential antibiotics, was validated by the discovery of streptomycin. This led to the creation of the modem biopharmaceutical industry and the subsequent isolation of tens of thousands of bioactive small molecules from soil bacteria and other environments. A proportion of these compounds have become highly successfnl therapeutics, not only for all types of infectious diseases, but also in the treatment of many other human and animal ailments and as anticancer, immnno-modnlatory, and cardiovascular agents. Waksman and Fleming could be considered the fathers of chemical biology (Figure 1.1). 

Following on the discovery of streptomycin and its streptamine-based relatives (Figure 1.2), a new generation of the aminoglycosides derived from 2-deoxy-streptamine (DOS) was not long in coming (Figure 1.3). For a variety of reasons, many of these compounds have not been employed as hnman therapeutics for... 

Here again I should like to backtrack to 1951. At that time resistcuit orgcuiisms except for streptomycin-resistant tubercle bacilli had not yet appeared and the chemotherapy of bacterial diseases seemed to be almost completed. Therefore, I endeavored to extend antibiotic research to a new area and initiated the screening of antitumor antibiotics. I reported the discovery of two microbial products, svibstance No. 289 and sarkonycin (67). 

Selman A. Waksman Physiology/Medicine Discovery of streptomycin... 

The distinction between the profile of an inventor and innovator is quite clear from the report involving the invention and innovation of penicillin and streptomycin. According to Schumpeter (1988), an inventor produces ideas, while an innovator makes things happen, and materializes ideas. Personal commitment and willpower are characteristics of an innovator. This is the difference between Fleming and Florey in relation to the discovery and innovation of penicillin, respectively. The researcher/inven-tor has to deal with resistance to new ideas without the ability to make these new ideas accepted. In contrast, an innovator has the ability necessary to promote ideas and transform them into reality. 

Another very great step forward has been made during the past two years by the discovery of substances which can control the development of iral infections. Penicillin, streptomycin, and the sulfa drugs aie effectn e against bacteria but not against viruses. It has recently been found, however, that chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin) and au-reumycin, both of which are substances manufactured by molds (the molds Streptomyces venezuele and Streptomyces aureofaciens respectively), have the power of controlling certain viral infections. 

Since the discovery of streptomycin in 1944, aminoglycosides have endured as indispensable agents in the antimicrobial armamentarium. This is despite their well described potential for serious nephrotoxicity and otoxicity and the emergence of other classes of antibiotics with similar antibacterial spectrums. The major aminoglycoside antibiotics in... 

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