#rifamycin

FDA approves new drug Aemcolo (rifamycin), to treat travelers’ diarrhea

FDA approves new drug to treat travelers’ diarrheaThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Aemcolo (rifamycin), an antibacterial drug indicated for the treatment of adult patients with travelers’ diarrhea caused by noninvasive strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli), not complicated by fever or blood in the stool. “Travelers’ diarrhea affects millions of people each year and having…

And when in 1957 they isolated a group of antibiotics from the fungus Streptomyces mediterranei (now called Norcadia mediterranea) they called them rifamycins, from the title of the French gangster film, Rififi, directed by Jules Dassin (1955). Rifampicin was the N­amino­N ’­methylpiperazine (AMP) derivative—hence rif­amp­icin. Rififi is French argot for trouble, and the original title of the film was Du Rififi Chez les Hommes, which we might nowadays translate as Men Behaving Badly. The chief feature of the film was the half hour documentary­like sequence during which a bank robbery is staged in total silence.