Paromomycin sulfate
Encyclopedia
Paromomycin is an aminoglycoside
Aminoglycoside
An aminoglycoside is a molecule or a portion of a molecule composed of amino-modifiedsugars.Several aminoglycosides function as antibiotics that are effective against certain types of bacteria...

 antibiotic, first isolated from Streptomyces krestomuceticus in the 1950s. It is also called monomycin and aminosidine;

Uses

It is an antibiotic designed to fight intestinal infections such as cryptosporidiosis
Cryptosporidiosis
Cryptosporidiosis, also known as crypto, is a parasitic disease caused by Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite in the phylum Apicomplexa. It affects the intestines of mammals and is typically an acute short-term infection...

, amoebiasis
Amoebiasis
Entamebiasis is a term for the infection more commonly known as amoebiasis.It became the preferred term in MeSH in 1991, but the term amoebiasis is used by the World Health Organization and by those working in the field of amoebiasis research....

, and leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly...

.

The route of administration is intramuscular injection
Intramuscular injection
Intramuscular injection is the injection of a substance directly into a muscle. In medicine, it is one of several alternative methods for the administration of medications . It is used for particular forms of medication that are administered in small amounts...

 and capsule.

Mechanism

Paromomycin inhibits protein synthesis by binding to 16S
16S ribosomal RNA
16S ribosomal RNA is a component of the 30S subunit of prokaryotic ribosomes. It is approximately 1.5kb in length...

 ribosomal RNA
Ribosomal RNA
Ribosomal ribonucleic acid is the RNA component of the ribosome, the enzyme that is the site of protein synthesis in all living cells. Ribosomal RNA provides a mechanism for decoding mRNA into amino acids and interacts with tRNAs during translation by providing peptidyl transferase activity...

.

History and availability

Paromomycin was demonstrated to be effective against cutaneous leishmaniasis
Cutaneous leishmaniasis
Cutaneous leishmaniasis is the most common form of leishmaniasis. It is a skin infection caused by a single-celled parasite that is transmitted by sandfly bites...

 in clinical studies in the USSR in the 1960s, and in trials with visceral leishmaniasis
Visceral leishmaniasis
Visceral leishmaniasis , also known as kala-azar, black fever, and Dumdum fever, is the most severe form of leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus. This disease is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world , responsible for an...

 in the early 1990s.

It was developed as a therapeutic against visceral leishmaniasis
Visceral leishmaniasis
Visceral leishmaniasis , also known as kala-azar, black fever, and Dumdum fever, is the most severe form of leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus. This disease is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world , responsible for an...

 by the Institute for OneWorld Health
Institute for OneWorld Health
OneWorld Health is a 501 nonprofit drug development organization founded in 2000. Its mission is to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective and affordable new treatments and interventions for people with neglected infectious diseases in the developing countries, with an emphasis on diseases...

. Paromomycin was granted orphan drug
Orphan drug
An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent that has been developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition, the condition itself being referred to as an orphan disease...

 status in 2005 and was approved by the Drug Controller General of India in September 2006 for treatment of visceral leishmaniasis.

As of February 5th, 2008, King Pharmaceuticals
King Pharmaceuticals
King Pharmaceuticals , was the world's 39th largest pharmaceutical company, based in Bristol, Tennessee. However, on October 12, 2010, King was acquired by Pfizer for $14.25 per share. King produced a wide range of pharmaceuticals, including Altace for heart attack prevention, Levoxyl for...

is discontinuing the sale of Humatin. Paromomycin continues to be available in the United States from another manufacturer.
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