Phenindamine

Phenindamine
Phenindamine
Systematic (IUPAC) name
2-methyl-9-phenyl-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-indeno[2,1-c]pyridine
Clinical data
AHFS/Drugs.com Micromedex Detailed Consumer Information
Pregnancy cat.  ?
Legal status  ?
Identifiers
CAS number 82-88-2 YesY
ATC code R06AX04
PubChem CID 11291
DrugBank DB01619
ChemSpider 10817 N
UNII 772BQ8KSST YesY
KEGG D08353 YesY
ChEMBL CHEMBL278398 N
Chemical data
Formula C19H19N 
Mol. mass 261.361 g/mol
 N(what is this?)  (verify)

Phenindamine (Nolahist, Thephorin) is an antihistamine and anticholinergic closely related to cyproheptadine which is used to treat symptoms of the common cold and allergies, such as sneezing, itching, rashes, and hives. Its efficacy against some symptoms of opioid withdrawal was researched in the 1950s and 1960s in a number of countries; William S. Burroughs' book Junky mentions this technique (although in this case he claims to intravenously administer this drug, as the brand Thephorin, to his wife Joan to alleviate her withdrawal from chronic & excessive use of amphetamine,which she obtained from then freely available Benzedrine inhalers). Like many other first-generation antihistamines, phenindamine has useful potentiating effects on many narcotic analgesics and is even more useful with those opioids which release histamine when in the body.

Nolahist was originally manufactured in the USA by Carnrick Laboratories, and later by Amarin Pharmaceuticals. When that company ceased its American operations, its product line was acquired by Valeant, but they declined to resume manufacturing Nolahist. The last produced lot bore an expiration date of 10/2005, and the product is no longer available.

See also

References