.In 1954 the sulphonamide derivative 1-butyl-3-sulphonylurea(carbutamide) was under clinical test for antibacterial activity and found to cause neurological disturbances. Duringa study of these side effects the drug was observed to cause hypoglycaemia.2 Carbutamide became the first of a number of sulphonylurea derivatives to be used in the treatment of diabetes. Though no longer used in Britain, its successors
tolbutamide, chlorpropamide, tolazamide, and acetohexamide
have been and are widely prescribed and have largely replaced
insulin in the treatment of those maturity-onset diabetics not
controlled by dietary restriction alone. A relative newcomer
to this class of drugs is glibenclamide.3 4
,