2. Academic Validation
  3. Metabolites replace the parent drug in the drug arena. The cases of fonazepam and nifoxipam

Metabolites replace the parent drug in the drug arena. The cases of fonazepam and nifoxipam

  • Forensic Toxicol. 2017;35(1):1-10. doi: 10.1007/s11419-016-0338-5.
Maria Katselou 1,  Ioannis Papoutsis 1,  Panagiota Nikolaou 1,  Chara Spiliopoulou 1,  Sotiris Athanaselis 1
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75 Mikras Asias, 115 27 Athens, Greece.
PMID: 28127407 DOI: 10.1007/s11419-016-0338-5
Abstract

Fonazepam (desmethylflunitrazepam) and nifoxipam (3-hydroxy-desmethylflunitrazepam) are benzodiazepine derivatives and active metabolites of flunitrazepam. They recently invaded the drug arena as substances of abuse and alerted the forensic community after being seized in powder and tablet forms in Europe between 2014 and 2016. A review of all the existing knowledge of fonazepam and nifoxipam is reported, concerning their chemistry, synthesis, pharmacology and toxicology, prevalence/use, biotransformation and their analysis in biological samples. To our knowledge, fonazepam and nifoxipam-related intoxications, lethal or not, have not been reported in the scientific literature. All the available information was gathered through a detailed search of PubMed and the World Wide Web.

Keywords

Active metabolites of flunitrazepam; Designer benzodiazepines; Fonazepam; NPS; Nifoxipam.

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