rifampicin

rifampicin |rɪˈfampɪsɪn |(also rifampin ) ▶noun [ mass noun ] Medicine a reddish-brown antibiotic used chiefly to treat tuberculosis and leprosy. ●The antibiotic is obtained from the bacterium Nocardia mediterranei. ORIGIN 1960s: from rifamycin (an antibiotic first isolated from the bacterium Streptomyces mediterranei ) + the insertion of pi- from piperazine .