Oleandomycin

Oleandomycin is a macrolide antibiotic. It is synthesized from strains of Streptomyces antibioticus. It is weaker than erythromycin. Oleandomycin is a macrolide antibiotic. It is synthesized from strains of Streptomyces antibioticus. It is weaker than erythromycin. It used to be sold under the brand name Sigmamycine, combined with tetracycline, and made by the company Rosa-Phytopharma in France. Oleandomycin can be employed to inhibit the activities of bacteria responsible for causing infections in the upper respiratory tract much like Erythromycin can. Both can affect staphylococcus and enterococcus genera. The MIC for Oleandomycin is 0.3-3 µg/ml for Staphylococcus Aureus. Oleandomycin is approved as a veterinary antibiotic in some countries. It has been approved as a swine and poultry antibiotic in the United States. However, it is currently only approved in the United States for production uses. Oleandomycin was first discovered as a product of the bacterium Streptomyces Antibioticus in 1954 by Dr. Sobin, English, and Celmer. In 1960, Hochstein successfully managed to determine the structure of oleandomycin. This macrolide was discovered at around the same time as its relatives erythromycin and spiramycin. Public interest in oleandomycin peaked when Pfizer introduced the combination drug Sigmamycine into the market in 1956. Sigmamycine was a combination drug of oleandomycin and tetracycline that was supported by a major marketing campaign. It was in fact claimed that a 2:1 mixture of tetracycline and oleandomycin had a synergistic effect on staphylococci. It was also claimed that the mixture would be effective on organisms that are mostly resistant to tetracycline or oleandomycin alone. Both of these claims were refuted by findings such as those by Lawrence P. Garrod that could find no evidence that such claims were properly substantiated. By the early 1970s, Pfizer’s combination drugs were withdrawn from the market.