Clinical Trial of Cephaloridine (Ceporin), a New Broad-spectrum Antibiotic Derived from Cephalosporin C

Abstract

In a search for new antibiotic substances, Brotzu isolated a fungus from the sea near a sewage outfall in Sardinia in 1945. He used an extract of this for the parenteral treatment of patients suffering from typhoid fever and from infection with Brucella melitensis, and appears to have achieved some success. A culture of the organism was received in Oxford, where seven antibiotic substances were isolated from it Three of these were cephalosporin N, a penicillin which is active mainly against Gram-negative organisms and is identical with synnematin B, which has a therapeutic action in typhoid fever ; cephalosporin P, which has a steroid structure and is related to the more recently discovered fusidic acid (fucidin); and cephalosporin C, of which 7-aminocephalosporanic acid is the nucleus med. 7., 1964). The nucleus of cephalosporin C is closely related to the penicillin nucleus, 6-aminopenicillanic acid, but differs from the latter in having a fused dihydrothiazine /3-lactam ring instead of a fused thiazolidine 83-lactam ring (Loder et al., 1961 ; Barber and Waterworth, 1964).