Discovery and Industrialization of Therapeutically Important Tetracyclines

The discovery and clinical use of the tetracycline family of antibiotics emerged from efforts in research and development that were a leap of faith for the times in the 1930s. The search for antibiotic-producing microorganisms began with the discovery of penicillin, and in an effort to study therapeutic substances from soil microorganisms. Methacycline and doxycycline were successful as second-generation tetracyclines in the world antibiotic market. Tigecycline shares the same antibacterial properties of its antecedent tetracyclines; however, unlike the previous generations of tetracyclines, oral bioavailability has been poor thereby restricting tigecycline to intravenous use. The tetracyclines were some of the first antibiotics discovered and mass marketed throughout the world for the treatment of a broad spectrum of infectious disease states and represent a chronological progression of the discovery of natural products as drugs to semisynthetic derivatives of better potency and properties. It is hoped that a novel semi-synthetic tetracycline antibiotic will be available for use against bacterial pathogens in the early 21st century.