An Agent Delaying the Absorption of Penicillin

Abstract

THE rapid absorption and excretion of penicillin necessitates frequent injections at short intervals. Polyvinyl alcohol and a beeswax-peanut oil mixture have been suggested as agents causing slow release of injected penicillin. The successful use of the beeswax-peanut oil mixture, and a number of reports in the literature, seem to point to the advantage of suspended dry penicillin in a water-free base. The beeswax-peanut oil mixture has the disadvantage that the insect wax is foreign to the mammalian body. In the preparation described below, a highly purified fat, extracted from normal mammalian depot fat, is used in a certain mixture with peanut oil. In this way the portion which has the higher melting point is not foreign to the body. Peanut oil has a low melting point and is known to be easily dealt with in the body.