ATC Group: J04AB Antibiotics

The World Health Organization's ATC classification organizes medical drugs based on therapeutic properties, chemical composition, and anatomy. It helps make essential medicines readily available globally and is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry.

Position of J04AB in the ATC hierarchy

Level Code Title
1 J Antiinfectives for systemic use
2 J04 Antimycobacterials
3 J04A Drugs for treatment of tuberculosis
4 J04AB Antibiotics

Group J04AB contents

Code Title
J04AB01 Cycloserine
J04AB02 Rifampicin
J04AB03 Rifamycin
J04AB04 Rifabutin
J04AB05 Rifapentine
J04AB06
J04AB30 Capreomycin

Active ingredients in J04AB

Active Ingredient

Capreomycin is active against human strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Cycloserine is an analog of the amino acid D-alanine. It interferes with an early step in bacterial cell wall synthesis in the cytoplasm by competitive inhibition of two enzymes, L-alanine racemase, which forms D-alanine from L-alanine, and D-alanylalanine synthetase, which incorporates D-alanine into the pentapeptide necessary for peptidoglycan formation and bacterial cell wall synthesis.

Rifabutin is an antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis and prevent and treat Mycobacterium avium complex.

Rifampicin is an active bactericidial antituberculosis drug which is particularly active against the rapidly growing extracellular organisms and also has bactericidial activity intracellularly. Rifampicin inhibits DNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity in susceptible cells. Specifically, it interacts with bacterial RNA polymerase but does not inhibit the mammalian enzyme.

Rifapentine, a cyclopentyl rifamycin, is an antimycobacterial agent. Rifapentine inhibits DNA-dependent RNA polymerase in susceptible strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis but not in mammalian cells. At therapeutic levels, rifapentine exhibits bactericidal activity against both intracellular and extracellular M. tuberculosis organisms.

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