science · 25 June 1949 · 75 years ago
In 1949, scientists in New York announced that the anti-tuberculosis drug Neomycin had been fully tested on animals. It was first isolated by the American microbiologist Selman Waksman from a strain of the bacterial species Streptomyces fradiae which produces it naturally. It is now used mainly topically (because of renal toxicity) in the treatment of skin and mucous membrane infections, wounds, and burns. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1952 for his earlier isolation and development of the antibiotic Streptomycin. The term "antibiotic" in the medical context was defined by Waksman, and he discovered an impressive number of them.
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