About the GlaxoSmithKline of Cimetidine – Tagamet
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| About the manufacturer of
Cimetidine – Tagamet |
Cimetidine is a histamine H2-receptor antagonist that inhibits the
production of acid in the stomach. It is largely used in the
treatment of heartburn and peptic ulcers. It is marketed by
GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name Tagamet. At times they are sold
by the name Tagamet HB or Tagamet HB200. This was approved by the
Food & Drug Administration for prescriptions starting January 1979.
It started with the discovery of propranolol which leads to the
formation of Cimetidine.
Cimetidine was the prototypical histamine H2-receptor antagonist
from which the later members of the class were developed. Cimetidine
was the culmination of a project at Smith; Kline & French worked in
the GlaxoSmithKline Company. The SK&F team used a rational
drug-design structure starting from the structure of histamine.
Hundreds of modified compounds were synthesized in an effort to
develop a hypothetical H2-receptor. Eventually the experiment led to
the development of burimamide which was the first H2-receptor
antagonist.
The modifications and the discoveries went on as a step by step
process. Eventually it lead to the ultimate discovery of Cimetidine.
Cimetidine was first marketed in the United Kingdom in 1976. It took
12 years from initiation of the H2-receptor antagonist program to
commercialization. Subsequent to the introduction onto the U.S. drug
market, two other H2-receptor antagonists’ ranitidine and famotidine
were approved. Cimetidine became the first drug ever to reach more
than $1 billion a year in sales, thus making it the first
blockbuster drug.
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