Ezogabine (U.S. adopted name) or retigabine (international nonproprietary name) is one of a family of aminopyrroles with anticonvulsant activity. It is used as an adjunctive treatment for partial epilepsies in treatment-experienced adult patients. The drug was approved by the European Medicines Agency under the trade name Trobalt and by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), under the trade name Potiga. The mechanism by which ezogabine exerts its therapeutic effects has not been fully elucidated. In vitro studies indicate that ezogabine enhances transmembrane potassium currents mediated by the KCNQ (Kv7.2 to 7.5) family of ion channels. By activating KCNQ channels, ezogabine is thought to stabilize the resting membrane potential and reduce brain excitability. This mechanism of action is unique among antiepileptic drugs, and may hold promise for the treatment of other neurologic conditions, including migraine, tinnitus and neuropathic pain. In vitro studies suggest that ezogabine may also exert therapeutic effects through augmentation of GABA-mediated currents.

Ezogabine (U.S. adopted name) or retigabine (international nonproprietary name) is one of a family of aminopyrroles with anticonvulsant activity. It is used as an adjunctive treatment for partial epilepsies in treatment-experienced adult patients. The drug was approved by the European Medicines Agency under the trade name Trobalt and by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), under the trade name Potiga. The mechanism by which ezogabine exerts its therapeutic effects has not been fully elucidated. In vitro studies indicate that ezogabine enhances transmembrane potassium currents mediated by the KCNQ (Kv7.2 to 7.5) family of ion channels. By activating KCNQ channels, ezogabine is thought to stabilize the resting membrane potential and reduce brain excitability. This mechanism of action is unique among antiepileptic drugs, and may hold promise for the treatment of other neurologic conditions, including migraine, tinnitus and neuropathic pain. In vitro studies suggest that ezogabine may also exert therapeutic effects through augmentation of GABA-mediated currents.

BETAXON™ is a trade name for levobetaxolol hydrochloride ophthalmic suspension 0.5%, which is indicated for lowering intraocular pressure in patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. The brand name Betaxon is discontinued in USA, but generic versions may be available. Levobetaxolol is a cardioselective (beta-1¬ adrenergic) receptor-blocking agent that does not have significant membrane-stabilizing (local anesthetic) activity and is devoid of intrinsic sympathomimetic action. Animal studies suggest levobetaxolol (S-isomer) is the more active enantiomer of betaxolol (racemate).

Mibefradil is a calcium channel blocker, chemically unlike other compounds in the class, that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S.A. in June 1997 for the treatment of patients with hypertension and chronic stable angina. Shortly following its introduction, mibefradil was withdrawn from the market in the U.S.A. as well as in Europe. The reason for the voluntary withdrawal of the drug by Roche laboratories was claimed to be the result of new information about potentially harmful interactions with other drugs. Mibefradil is calcium channel blocker with moderate selectivity for T-type Ca2+ channels displaying IC50 values of 2.7 uM and 18.6 uM for T-type and L-type channels respectively. Mibefradil is a tetralol calcium channel blocking agent that inhibits the influx of calcium ions across both the T (low-voltage) and L (high-voltage) calcium channels of cardiac and vascular smooth muscle, with a greater selectivity for T channels. Vasodilation occurs in vascular smooth muscle, causing a decrease in peripheral vascular resistance and a resulting decrease in blood pressure. Mibefradil causes a slight increase in cardiac output during chronic dosing. Mibefradil slows sinus and atrioventricular (AV) node conduction, producing a slight reduction in heart rate and a slight increase in the PR interval. It has also been shown to slightly lengthen the corrected sinus node recovery time and AH interval and to raise the Wenckebach point. The mechanism by which mibefradil reduces angina is not known, but is thought to be attributed to a reduction in heart rate, total peripheral resistance (afterload), and the heart rate-systolic blood pressure product at any given level of exercise. The result of these effects is a decrease in cardiac workload and myocardial oxygen demand. Mibefradil has been repurposed from an abandoned antihypertensive to a targeted solid tumor treatment, and it has been rescued from drug-drug interactions by using short-term dose exposure. Tau is using the early success of mibefradil as a proof of concept to build a platform technology of Cav3 blockers for broad antitumor applications in combination with new targeted cancer therapies, well-established.

Arbutamine was indicated to elicit acute cardiovascular responses in order to aid in diagnosing the presence or absence of coronary artery disease in patients who cannot exercise adequately. Arbutamine is a synthetic catecholamine with positive chronotropic and inotropic properties. The chronotropic (increase in heart rate [HR]) and inotropic (increase in force of contraction) effects of arbutamine serve to mimic exercise by increasing cardiac work (producing stress) and provoke myocardial ischemia in patients with compromised coronary arteries. In functional assays, arbutamine is more selective for beta-adrenergic receptors than for alpha-adrenergic receptors. The beta-agonist activity of arbutamine provides cardiac stress by increasing HR, cardiac contractility, and systolic blood pressure.

Amifostine is an organic thiophosphate cytoprotective agent known chemically as 2-[(3¬ aminopropyl)amino]ethanethiol dihydrogen phosphate (ester), it’s adjuvant used in cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy involving DNA-binding chemotherapeutic agents. It is marketed under the trade name Ethyol. Amifostine is a prodrug and is dephosphorylated by alkaline phosphatase in tissues to a pharmacologically active free thiol metabolite. This metabolite is believed to be responsible for the reduction of the cumulative renal toxicity of cisplatin and for the reduction of the toxic effects of radiation on normal oral tissues. The ability of Ethyol to differentially protect normal tissues is attributed to the higher capillary alkaline phosphatase activity, higher pH and better vascularity of normal tissues relative to tumor tissue, which results in a more rapid generation of the active thiol metabolite as well as a higher rate constant for uptake into cells. The higher concentration of the thiol metabolite in normal tissues is available to bind to, and thereby detoxify, reactive metabolites of cisplatin. This thiol metabolite can also scavenge reactive oxygen species generated by exposure to either cisplatin or radiation. Healthy cells are preferentially protected because amifostine and metabolites are present in healthy cells at 100-fold greater concentrations than in tumor cells.

Spirapril (Renormax) is an ACE inhibitor antihypertensive drug used to treat hypertension. Spiraprilat, the active metabolite of spirapril, competes with angiotensin I for binding at the angiotensin-converting enzyme, blocking the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II. Inhibition of ACE results in decreased plasma angiotensin II. As angiotensin II is a vasoconstrictor and a negative-feedback mediator for renin activity, lower concentrations result in a decrease in blood pressure and stimulation of baroreceptor reflex mechanisms, which leads to decreased vasopressor activity and to decreased aldosterone secretion. Spiraprilat may also act on kininase II, an enzyme identical to ACE that degrades the vasodilator bradykinin.

Levalmodipine (S-amlodipine) is an active enantiomer of amlodipine, a calcium antagonist that inhibits the transmembrane influx of calcium ions into vascular smooth muscle and cardiac muscle. Experimental data suggest that S-amlodipine binds to both dihydropyridine and nondihydropyridine binding sites. The contractile processes of cardiac muscle and vascular smooth muscle are dependent upon the movement of extracellular calcium ions into these cells through specific ion channels. S-Amlodipine inhibits calcium ion influx across cell membranes selectively, with a greater effect on vascular smooth muscle cells than on cardiac muscle cells. Enantiomerically pure S-amlodipine is marketed in some countries worldwide, while racemate, containing active S-enantiomer an inactive R-enantiomer is marketed in the USA and indicated for the treatment of hypertension and coronary artery disease.

Levalmodipine (S-amlodipine) is an active enantiomer of amlodipine, a calcium antagonist that inhibits the transmembrane influx of calcium ions into vascular smooth muscle and cardiac muscle. Experimental data suggest that S-amlodipine binds to both dihydropyridine and nondihydropyridine binding sites. The contractile processes of cardiac muscle and vascular smooth muscle are dependent upon the movement of extracellular calcium ions into these cells through specific ion channels. S-Amlodipine inhibits calcium ion influx across cell membranes selectively, with a greater effect on vascular smooth muscle cells than on cardiac muscle cells. Enantiomerically pure S-amlodipine is marketed in some countries worldwide, while racemate, containing active S-enantiomer an inactive R-enantiomer is marketed in the USA and indicated for the treatment of hypertension and coronary artery disease.