Prodrug not its intended target. This reduces adverse or unintended effects of a drug, especially important in treatments like chemotherapy, which can have severe unintended and undesirable side effects. Many herbal extracts historically used in medicine contain glycosides (sugar derivatives) of the active agent, which are hydrolyzed in the intestines to release the active and more bioavailable aglycone. For example, salicin is a β-D-glucopyranoside that is cleaved by esterases to release salicylic acid. Aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid, first made by Felix Hoffmann at Bayer in 1897, is a synthetic prodrug of salicylic acid. However, in other cases, such as codeine and morphine,
Clavulanic acid Clavulanic acid Clavulanic acid is a β-lactam drug that functions as a mechanism-based β-lactamase inhibitor. While not effective by itself as an antibiotic, when combined with penicillin-group antibiotics, it can overcome antibiotic resistance in bacteria that secrete β-lactamase, which otherwise inactivates most penicillins. In its most common form, the potassium salt potassium clavulanate is combined with: Clavulanic acid was patented in 1974. For the treatment of pyelonephritis during pregnancy, and for the treatment of pyelonephritis caused by gram-positive organisms, amoxicillin or amoxicillin-clavulanate potassium is preferred. The name is derived from strains of "Streptomyces clavuligerus", which produces clavulanic acid. Clavulanic acid