Tag: Semisynthetic

First discovered from a microbe in a Japanese soil sample, the precursor to ivermectin is indeed a natural product. However, the final antiparasitic medication, ivermectin, is not purely natural but a semisynthetic derivative, created through a specific chemical modification process.

Discovered in 1928, penicillin was hailed as a medical marvel, but bacteria quickly evolved resistance, leading to the development of new treatments. A key difference lies in how is oxacillin different from penicillin: its unique resistance to penicillinase, a bacterial enzyme that can inactivate standard penicillin. This vital distinction dictates their specific clinical applications and effectiveness against various bacterial infections.

The discovery of the compounds that led to ivermectin won a Nobel Prize in 2015. So, **what is ivermectin made of**? It is a semisynthetic antiparasitic derived from a naturally occurring soil bacterium, *Streptomyces avermitilis*.

Doxycycline is a venerable antibiotic first described in 1958 by researchers at Pfizer. It belongs to the tetracycline class of drugs, which trace their roots back to the late 1940s with discoveries made from soil-dwelling bacteria. The journey of doxycycline illustrates the evolution of semisynthetic antibiotics, transforming a natural product into a more effective and versatile therapeutic agent.