Antithyroid Drugs

Abstract

THE modern era of antithyroid-drug therapy began in 1941 with the chance observations of two groups working independently in Baltimore, Maryland. J. B. MacKenzie and colleagues, studying the antibiotic effects of sulfaguanidine on the intestinal flora of rats, noted thyroid hyperplasia in all animals exposed to this drug.¹ At the same time, Richter and Clisby, studying taste preferences, observed goiters in rats fed the very bitter compound phenylthiocarbamide.² MacKenzie³ and Astwood⁴ and their colleagues simultaneously reported that the goitrogenic activity of these compounds was due to the inhibition of thyroid hormone biosynthesis, and that the active principle in both drugs . . .