ABSTRACT
Nicotinamide and sulfapyridine are vastly different drugs that share some important chemical and pharmacological characteristics and are uniquely effective in a puzzling variety of seemingly unrelated dermatological conditions. What appears to be a significant common feature of this potent, moderately toxic antibiotic (sulfapyridine) and this essential vitamin (nicotinamide, which in activated form plays an important role in a number of key metabolic reactions in the body) is the presence of a pyridine ring (Fig. 1) in both drugs. This pyridine ring has been postulated to be related to the anti-inflammatory properties of both drugs [1]. In fact, it has become clear that the anti-inflammatory actions of both drugs seem to account for their efficacy in certain varied dermatological disorders, rather than their antibacterial or coenzyme properties.
