Rifampin — A Major New Chemotherapeutic Agent for the Treatment of Tuberculosis

Abstract

At the twenty-eighth Veterans Administration —Armed Forces Pulmonary Disease Research Conference held in Cleveland, Ohio, January 20 to 22, 1969, four papers described the first American laboratory and clinical studies of rifampin, a new chemotherapeutic agent of great promise in the treatment of tuberculosis. This drug is an agent that may approach or even surpass isoniazid both in its efficacy and in its freedom from toxicity. It has engendered an excitement among those concerned with the chemotherapy of tuberculosis unequaled since the introduction of isoniazid.A semisynthetic derivative of rifamycin, an antibiotic isolated by Italian workers from Streptomyces mediterranei in . . .