Product Details

Benzydamine available as the hydrochloride salt, is a locally-acting nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with local anaesthetic and analgesic properties for pain relief and anti-inflammatory treatment of typically topical inflammatory conditions associated with the mouth, throat, or muscoskeletal locations.

Although the indazole analogue benzydamine is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), it has various physicochemical properties and pharmacologic activities that are different from those of traditional aspirin-like NSAIDs but facilitate benzydamine's mechanism of action as an effective locally-acting NSAID with local anaesthetic and analgesic properties. Moreover, unlike aspirin-like NSAIDs which are acids or metabolised to acids, benzydamine is in fact a weak base.

Mechanism of action:

Despite being categorized as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), benzydamine demonstrates various mechanisms of action that differ from those of traditional aspirin-like NSAIDs. In particular, benzydamine predominantly acts by inhibiting the synthesis of pro inflammatory cytokines like tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) without largely affecting other pro inflammatory cytokines (ie. such as IL-6 and IL-8) or anti-inflammatory cytokines (ie. like IL-10 or IL-1 receptor antagonist).

Indication:

• Available predominantly as a liquid mouthwash, oromucosal spray, or topical cream, benzydamine is most frequently employed as a locally acting analgesic and anti-inflammatory treatment for the relief of painful inflammatory conditions.
• When formulated as a mouthwash or spray, benzydamine may be used to treat traumatic conditions like pharyngitis following tonsillectomy or the use of a naso-gastric tube, inflammatory conditions like pharyngitis, aphthous ulcers and oral ulceration due to radiation therapy, dentistry operations and procedures, or more general conditions like sore throat, sore tongue, sore gums, mouth ulcers, or discomfort caused by dentures.
• When used as a topical cream, benzydamine may be employed to relieve symptoms associated with painful inflammatory conditions of the muscolo-skeletal system including acute inflammatory disorders such as myalgia and bursitis or traumatic conditions like sprains, strains, bruises, sore muscles, stiff joints, or even the after-effects of fractures.

Pharmacokinetics:

Absorption:

Oral doses of benzydamine are well absorbed and plasma drug concentrations reach a peak fairly rapidly and then decline with a half-life of approximately 13 hours. When applied topically, although the local drug concentrations are relatively large, the systemic absorption of topically applied benzydamine is relatively low compared to oral doses. This low topical absorption contributes to a decreased potential for any systemic drug side-effects when benzydamine is administered in this way.

Volume of distribution:

The volume of distribution of benzydamine is 10L

Protein binding :

Benzydamine exhibits < 20% plasma protein binding after oral administration.

Metabolism:

Benzydamine is primarily metabolized by oxidation, dealkylation, and conjugation into hydroxy, dealkylated, and N-oxide metabolites.

In general, however, when used at the recommended doses the levels at which benzydamine is absorbed or exposed into the body are usually not sufficient to produce systemic pharmacological effects.

Route of elimination:

The relatively high lipid solubility of the weak base benzydamine is thought to be associated with considerable passive resorption within the renal tubule, which suggests that only approximately 5% of benzydamine is excreted unchanged in the urine. At the same time however, other studies have suggested that considerably larger amounts (50-65%) of the drug is excreted unchanged in urine.

Half life:

Approximately 13 h after oral administration with a terminal half life of about 7.7 h.

Drug Interactions:

• Warfarin: The risk or severity of bleeding and hemorrhage can be increased when Benzydamine is combined with (R)-warfarin.