Sulfapyridine

History

Sulfapyridine was one of the first generation of sulfonamide antibiotics. It was first synthesised by chemist Montague Phillips, working under director of research Arthur Ewins at the British firm May & Baker Ltd, Dagenham on 2 November 1937. This sample was recorded in their test log as T693.

Animal testing was conducted by clinical pathologist Lionel Whitby at the Bland-Sutton Institute of Pathology, Middlesex Hospital in London under the designation M&B 693. Whitby discovered the antibacterial properties of sulfapyridine against pneumococci and a range of other bacteria in mice.

Clinical trials were conducted between March and June 1938 at Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham by doctors G. Mary Evans and Wilfrid Gaisford. These trials demonstrated a 70% reduction in mortality in 100 patients with lobar pneumonia.

May & Baker began marketing sulphapyridine in the UK under the trade name Dagenan in October 1938.

During the aftermath to the disastrous convoy SC7, in October 1940, Surgeon-Lieutenant John Robertson, RN, of HMS Leith, saved the life of Commodore Lachlan MacKinnon, from the torpedoed Assyrian, who had developed pneumonia, by giving him M&B 693, despite Robertson never having used it before and not knowing the required dosage.

M&B 693 was successfully used to treat Winston Churchill's bacterial pneumonia.

The same source records that in 1944 M&B 693 also saved Nero, the Royal Circus lion, from pneumonia.

It could either be taken in tablet form or the powder could be placed in wounds. It was used so widely during the Second World War that May & Baker had difficulty keeping up with demand. It was later largely superseded by penicillin and other sulfonamides.

Sulfapyridine may still be prescribed for Dermatitis herpetiformis, also known as Duhring's disease.

As of December 1990, the drug is no longer marketed.

Related medications

The drug sulfasalazine is structurally one molecule of mesalamine linked to one molecule of sulfapyridine with an azo chemical linker.

References

References

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3. (28 May 1938). "Chemotherapy of pneumococcal and other infections with 2-(p-aminobenzenesulphonamide) pyridine". Lancet.
4. (2 July 1938). "Treatment of pneumonia with 2-(p-aminobenzenesulphonamide) pyridine". Lancet.
5. (30 July 1938). "The discovery of Dagenan". The Chemist and Druggist.
6. (1974). "Night of the U-boats". New English Library.
7. (December 2017). "Sir Winston Churchill: treatment for pneumonia in 1943 and 1944". Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
8. (2007). "The first miracle drugs: how the sulfa drugs transformed medicine". Oxford University Press.
9. (2007). "The first miracle drugs: how the sulfa drugs transformed medicine". Oxford University Press.
10. "Sulfapyridine".
11. "Dermatitis Herpetiformis - Dermatologic Disorders". www.msdmanuals.com.
12. "Dermatitis Herpetiformis". Cleveland Clinic.
13. "Sulfapyridine (oral route) - Side effects & dosage".