Who invented azithromycin

The azithromycin i. Sumamed and Zithromax story, which dates from the second half of the last century, can be considered as the first and foremost example of successful knowledge and technology transfer in Croatia ever. Kobrehel, together with the representatives from the US-based Pfizer, were granted the honorable titles of "Heroes of Chemistry " by the American Chemical Society ACS , a non-profit association of American chemists and chemical engineers, and the largest association of scientists in the world.

This high award is rightly taken to be also recognition of the achievement of PLIVA's entire team working on azithromycin. The success of azithromycin has placed PLIVA among the few pharmaceutical companies in the world that have developed their own blockbuster drug, and has entitled Croatia to join a small group of nations that have developed a new antibiotic.

Keywords Azithromycin. Also read: India is testing for Covid antibodies, but unlikely to let recovered patients move freely. According to data with the research firm IQVIA, India sold 12 crore strips of the drug last year, which is around 60 crore tablets an average of 5 tablets a strip. It is the largest player in the azithromycin market, estimated Rs crore a month.

Alembic, which also claims to be the largest player in selling active pharmaceutical ingredients APIs of azithromycin to the world, holds 30 per cent market share in selling the finished tablets of the antibiotic in India. Alembic exports all of its APIs. For finished tablets, the company, going by the estimates, can manufacture around 10 crore tablets per month.

According to the data given by industry to the health ministry, Indian requirement is metric tonnes of the drug, which is around crore tablets monthly. Gurgaon-based Mankind Pharma produces around 25 lakh tablets every month but does not export. Baheti from Alembic said that the company is receiving orders from the majority of its API clients from foreign countries, which in turn sell formulations finished medicines to other nations.

Unlike HCQ, where India is self-sufficient in production of the drug, for azithromycin, the majority of companies import the APIs from China, especially Wuhan, the initial epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. While Alembic leads in the production of APIs in the world, as the company claims, it also imports the intermediates and key starting material from China and other parts of the world.

If the demand picks up, we will be able to match it. India needs free, fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism even more as it faces multiple crises. But the news media is in a crisis of its own.

There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism is shrinking, yielding to crude prime-time spectacle. Azithromycin is a world best-selling antibiotic. In , Pliva filed a patent application for Azithromycin in the former Yugoslavia and subsequently patented it worldwide, including in the United States when the drug was still undergoing trials before its final approval by the relevant health authorities.

Patenting proved to be the key to the commercial success of Azithromycin: scientists from pharmaceutical multinational Pfizer Inc. As one of the largest drug makers in America with sales representatives worldwide, Pfizer was able to offer Pliva an ideal channel to commercialize its antibiotic. In , the talks between the Pliva and Pfizer eventually led to a licensing agreement through which both companies, as well as the general public, could benefit from the commercialization of the powerful antibiotic.

Under the agreement, Pfizer acquired the right to sell Azithromycin worldwide. Having realized the benefits of registering the Sumamed trademark at an international level, Pliva has gone on to register over 20 more trademarks for other products through the Madrid system.