Burimamide is an
antagonist at the
H2 and
H3histaminereceptors. At physiological pH, it is largely inactive as an H2 antagonist,[1] but its H3 affinity is 100x higher. It is a
thiourea derivative.
Burimamide was first developed by scientists at Smith, Kline & French (SK&F; now
GlaxoSmithKline) in their intent to develop a histamine antagonist for the treatment of
peptic ulcers.[2] The discovery of burimamide ultimately led to the development of
cimetidine (Tagamet).[2]