Candocuronium iodide

Candocuronium iodide (INN, formerly chandonium, HS-310) is the prototypical azasteroidal neuromuscular-blocking drug or skeletal muscle relaxant in the category of non-depolarizing neuromuscular-blocking drugs. Its potential adjunctive use in anesthesia to facilitate endotracheal intubation and to provide skeletal muscle relaxation during surgery or mechanical ventilation was briefly evaluated in clinical studies in India, but further development was discontinued because of attendant undesirable cardiovasular effects, primarily tachycardia that was no worse than but also not an improvement over the clinically established pancuronium bromide. Candocuronium demonstrated a short duration and a rapid onset of action, with little or no ganglion blocking activity, and it was only slightly less potent than pancuronium.

Background

As with other established neuromuscular blocking agents, candocuronium preferentially antagonizes competitively the nicotinic subtype of acetylcholine receptors. The agent was developed by the laboratory of Harkishan Singh, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, as part of the search for "the Holy Grail of neuromuscular blocking agents": a non-depolarizing replacement for the most popular clinically used depolarizing agent, suxamethonium (succinylcholine).