Effect of “Benemid” and Carinamide on Penicillin Therapy of Experimental Pneumococcic Infections in Mice

Summary

1. Oral administration of either carinamide or‘Benemid'enhances the therapeutic effectiveness of intramuscularly in jected penicillin in mice experimentally infected with Type I pneumococci. 2. When equal oral doses of these adjuncts are given,‘Benemid'had at least two to three times the duration of action of carinamide. 3. Plasma concentration studies show that‘Bene-mid'disappears from the blood stream at a somewhat slower rate than does carinamide. 4. Plasma concentration studies, combined with a consideration of the protection test data, suggest that‘Benemid'has about twice the intrinsic activity of carinamide. 5. The combined data indicate that the prolonged effectiveness of‘Benemid'in mice is the result not only of its slower rate of disappearance from the blood stream but also of its greater intrinsic activity.