(-)-Cevimeline (hydrochloride hemihydrate)

(-)-Cevimeline hydrochloride hemihydrate -)-SNI-2011), a novel muscarinic receptor agonist, is a candidate therapeutic dr_ug for xerostomia in Sjogren's syndrome.IC50 value:Target: mAChRThe general pharmacol. properties of this dr_ug on the gastrointestinal, urinary, and reproductive systems and other tissues were investigated in mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, and dogs. The in vitro metab. of SNI-2011 was also evaluated with rat and dog liver microsomes. After oral administration, plasma concns. of SNI-2011 reached to Cmax within 1 h in both species, suggesting that SNI-2011 was quickly absorbed, and then decreased with a t1/2 of 0.4-1.1 h. The bioavailability was 50% and 30% in rats and dogs, resp. Major metabolites in plasma were both S- and N-oxidized metabolites in rats and only N-oxidized metabolite in dogs, indicating that a large species difference was obsd. in the metab. of SNI-2011. Sex difference was also obsd. in the pharmacokinetics of SNI-2011 in rats, but not in dogs. In the in vitro study, chem. inhibition and pH-dependent studies revealed that the sulfoxidn. and N-oxidn. of SNI-2011 were mediated by cytochrome P 450 (CYP) and flavin-contg. monooxygenase (FMO), resp., in both species. In addn., CYP2D and CYP3A were mainly responsible for the sulfoxidn. in rat liver microsomes.