This is the timeline of modern antimicrobial (anti-infective) therapy.
The years show when a given drug was released onto the pharmaceutical
market. This is not a timeline of the development of the antibiotics themselves.
- 1899 – Pyocyanase
- 1911 – arsphenamine, also Salvarsan
- 1912 – neosalvarsan
- 1935 – prontosil (an oral precursor to sulfanilamide), the first sulfonamide
- 1936 – sulfanilamide
- 1937 – Promin
- 1938 – sulfapyridine (M&B 693)
- 1939 – sulfacetamide
- 1940 – sulfaguanidine
- 1940 – sulfamethizole
- 1942 – benzylpenicillin, the first penicillin
- 1942 – gramicidin S, the first peptide antibiotic
- 1942 – sulfadimidine
- 1943 – sulfamerazine
- 1944 – streptomycin, the first aminoglycoside
- 1949 – neomycin
- 1950 – oxytetracycline
- 1950 – penicillin G procaine
- 1951 – phenoxymethylpenicillin
- 1952 – erythromycin, the first macrolide