Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Aug 11, 2026

Josamycin

Josamycin is a macrolide antibiotic. It was isolated by Hamao Umezawa and his colleagues from strains of Streptomyces narbonensis var. josamyceticus var. nova in 1964.

Last revised
Aug 11, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
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171 w
Citations
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Wikipedia ↗
Josamycin
Clinical data
AHFS/Drugs.comInternational Drug Names
ATC code
Identifiers
  • (2S,3S,4R,6S)-6-{[(2R,3S,4R,5R,6S)-6-{[(4R,5S,6S,7R,9R,10R,11E,13E,16R)-4-Acetoxy-10-hydroxy-5-methoxy-9,16-dimethyl-2-oxo-7-(2-oxoethyl)oxacyclohexadeca-11,13-dien-6-yl]oxy}-4-(dimethylamino)-5-hydro xy-2-methyltetrahydro-2H-pyran-3-yl]oxy}-4-hydroxy-2,4-dimethyltetrahydro-2H-pyran-3-yl 3-methylbutanoate
CAS Number
PubChem CID
DrugBank
ChemSpider
UNII
KEGG
ChEBI
ChEMBL
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)
ECHA InfoCard100.037.140
Chemical and physical data
FormulaC42H69NO15
Molar mass828.006 g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)
  • C[C@@H]1C/C=C/C=C/[C@@H]([C@@H](C[C@@H]([C@@H]([C@H]([C@@H](CC(=O)O1)OC(=O)C)OC)O[C@H]2[C@@H]([C@H]([C@@H]([C@H](O2)C)O[C@H]3C[C@@]([C@H]([C@@H](O3)C)OC(=O)CC(C)C)(C)O)N(C)C)O)CC=O)C)O
  • InChI=1S/C42H69NO15/c1-23(2)19-32(47)56-40-27(6)53-34(22-42(40,8)50)57-37-26(5)54-41(36(49)35(37)43(9)10)58-38-29(17-18-44)20-24(3)30(46)16-14-12-13-15-25(4)52-33(48)21-31(39(38)51-11)55-28(7)45/h12-14,16,18,23-27,29-31,34-41,46,49-50H,15,17,19-22H2,1-11H3/b13-12+,16-14+/t24-,25-,26-,27+,29+,30+,31-,34+,35-,36-,37-,38+,39+,40+,41+,42-/m1/s1 checkY
  • Key:XJSFLOJWULLJQS-NGVXBBESSA-N checkY
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Josamycin is a macrolide antibiotic. It was isolated by Hamao Umezawa and his colleagues from strains of Streptomyces narbonensis var. josamyceticus var. nova in 1964.12

It is currently sold in various countries.Brand examples are:

  • Europe: Josalid, Josacine, Iosalide, Josamina
  • Russia: Wilprafen (Вильпрафен)
  • Japan: Josamy

Adverse effects

There has been a case report of edema of the feet.3

References

References

  1. Osono T, Oka Y, Watanabe S, Okami Y, Umezawa H (July 1967). "A new antibiotic, josamyicn. I. Isolation and physico-chemical characteristics". The Journal of Antibiotics. 20 (3): 174–180. PMID 6072798.
  2. Umezawa H (1982). "Discovery of josamycin". Giornale Italiano di Chemioterapia. 29 (Suppl 1): 1–10. PMID 6765367.
  3. Bosch X, Pedrol E, Casado X, Urbano-Marquez A (July 1993). "Josamycin-induced pedal oedema". BMJ. 307 (6895): 26. doi:10.1136/bmj.307.6895.26-a. PMC 1678472. PMID 8343666.