Dactinomycin (also known generically as Actinomycin D) is the most significant member of actinomycines, which are a class of polypeptide antibiotics isolated from soil bacteria of the genus Streptomyces. As one of the older chemotherapy drugs, it has been used for many years. Actinomycin D was the first antibiotic shown to have anti-cancer activity. It was first isolated by Selman Waksman and his co-worker H. B. Woodruff in 1940. It was approved by the US FDA on December 10, 1964 and launched by Merck Sharp and Dohme under the trade name Cosmegen.