1985 Volume 59 Issue 7 Pages 766-776
Forphenicinol is a low molecular immunomodulator found by Umezawa in Japan from Acti nomyces products. Immunoactivating effects of this drug appears in vitro and in vivo, connecting to alkalinephosphatase on the surface of various cells. Pharmakokinetics and protective effects against bacterial in-fections were made clearly.
We administered forphenicinol to 15 patients with chronic respiratory tract infections. Clinical effects were observed in 9 cases. Six of them (4 chronic bronchiolitis do called diffuse pan-bronchiolitis in Japan, 1 bronchiectasis, 1 bronchitis) had pseudomonase infections. In these cases phagocytic activity of neutrophils and number of macrophages in sputum increased.
In three cases, forphenicinol had been given about one year to investigate the protective effect against recurrent bacterial infections in doses ranging 50-100 mg every other day. Clinical observation and treatment was done in the same condition before and after forphenicinol by the same doctor. Quantitative culture of sputum was examined two or three times a week. In two chronic bronchitis number of infectious episodes with various bacteria such as the, H. influenzae, S. pneumoniae and B. catarrhalis decreased after administration of forphenicinol. One patient of chronic bronchitis had a longer remission period of about seven months. The other had 0.42 infections episode per month after treatment comparing 0.83 episode per month before that. But in the patient of diffuse pan-bronchiolitis with recurrent staphylococcal infection, number of infectious episodes didn't reduce and moreover other causative bacteria appeared after forphenicinol treatment.
From these results, forphenicinol is expected to be useful for pseudomonas infecti on and recurrent bacterial infections with H. influenzae, S. pneumoniae and B. catarrhalis of lower respiratory tract.
