Dactimicin, a new, less toxic aminoglycoside antibiotic active against resistant bacteria.

Dactimicin is a new member of the pseudodisaccharide group of antibiotics. It possesses an unusual N-formimidoyl group which differentiates it from astromicin. Dactimicin is active against wide variety of bacteria, including resistant strains with aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes. However, AAC(3)-I enzyme slowly acetylates dactimicin. Animal toxicity studies show that the ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity of dactimicin are lower than those of amikacin and gentamicin. No notable abnormal findings have been found in pharmacological and toxicological studies.