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]