Droxidopa (

INN Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

; trade name Northera; also known as L-DOPS, L-''threo''-dihydroxyphenylserine, L-''threo''-DOPS and SM-5688) is a synthetic

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

precursor Precursor or Precursors may refer to: * Precursor (religion), a forerunner, predecessor ** The Precursor, John the Baptist Science and technology * Precursor (bird), a hypothesized genus of fossil birds that was composed of fossilized parts of u ...

which acts as a

prodrug A prodrug is a medication or compound that, after intake, is metabolized (i.e., converted within the body) into a pharmacologically active drug. Instead of administering a drug directly, a corresponding prodrug can be used to improve how the drug ...

to the

neurotransmitter A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a synapse. The cell receiving the signal, any main body part or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell. Neuro ...

norepinephrine Norepinephrine (NE), also called noradrenaline (NA) or noradrenalin, is an organic chemical in the catecholamine family that functions in the brain and body as both a hormone and neurotransmitter. The name "noradrenaline" (from Latin '' ad'', ...

(noradrenaline). Unlike norepinephrine, droxidopa is capable of crossing the protective

blood–brain barrier The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a highly selective semipermeable membrane, semipermeable border of endothelium, endothelial cells that prevents solutes in the circulating blood from ''non-selectively'' crossing into the extracellular fluid of ...

(BBB).

Medical uses

Neurogenic orthostatic hypotension Orthostatic hypotension, also known as postural hypotension, is a medical condition wherein a person's blood pressure drops when standing up or sitting down. Primary orthostatic hypertension is also often referred to as neurogenic orthostatic hy ...

(NOH) dopamine beta hydrolase deficiency, as well as NOH associated with

multiple system atrophy Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by autonomic dysfunction, tremors, slow movement, muscle rigidity, and postural instability (collectively known as parkinsonism) and ataxia. This is caused by progr ...

(MSA),

familial amyloid polyneuropathy Familial amyloid polyneuropathy, also called transthyretin-related hereditary amyloidosis, transthyretin amyloidosis abbreviated also as ATTR (hereditary form), or Corino de Andrade's disease, is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease. It ...

(FAP),

pure autonomic failure Pure autonomic failure (PAF) is a form of dysautonomia that first occurs in middle age or later in life; diagnosed more often in men than in women. Signs and symptoms A degenerative disease of the autonomic nervous system, symptoms include dizzin ...

(PAF). * Intradialytic hypotension (IDH) or

hemodialysis Hemodialysis, also spelled haemodialysis, or simply dialysis, is a process of purifying the blood of a person whose kidneys are not working normally. This type of dialysis achieves the extracorporeal removal of waste products such as creatinin ...

-induced

hypotension Hypotension is low blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps out blood. Blood pressure is indicated by two numbers, the systolic blood pressure (the top number) and the dias ...

. * Freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease (off-label)

Side effects

With over 20 years on the market, droxidopa has proven to have few

side effect In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequence ...

s of which most are mild. The most common side effects reported in clinical trials include headache, dizziness, nausea, hypertension and fatigue.

Pharmacology

Droxidopa is a

used to increase the

concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', ''molar concentration'', ''number concentration'', an ...

s of these

s in the

body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...

and

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

. It is

metabolized Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

by aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AAAD), also known as DOPA decarboxylase (DDC). Patients with NOH have depleted levels of norepinephrine which leads to decreased

blood pressure Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term "blood pressure" r ...

upon

orthostatic Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...

challenge. Droxidopa works by increasing the levels of norepinephrine in the

peripheral nervous system The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is one of two components that make up the nervous system of bilateral animals, with the other part being the central nervous system (CNS). The PNS consists of nerves and ganglia, which lie outside the brain ...

(PNS), thus enabling the body to maintain

blood flow Hemodynamics or haemodynamics are the dynamics of blood flow. The circulatory system is controlled by homeostatic mechanisms of autoregulation, just as hydraulic circuits are controlled by control systems. The hemodynamic response continuously m ...

upon and while

standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...

. Droxidopa can also cross the

(BBB) where it is converted to norepinephrine from within the brain. Increased levels of norepinephrine in the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all par ...

(CNS) may be beneficial to patients in a wide range of indications. Droxidopa can be coupled with a peripheral aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase inhibitor (AAADI) or

DOPA decarboxylase inhibitor An aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase inhibitor (synonyms: DOPA decarboxylase inhibitor, Extracerebral decarboxylase inhibitor, DDCI and AAADI) is a medication of type enzyme inhibitor which inhibits the synthesis of dopamine by the enzyme arom ...

(DDC) such as

carbidopa Carbidopa (Lodosyn) is a drug given to people with Parkinson's disease in order to inhibit peripheral metabolism of levodopa. This property is significant in that it allows a greater proportion of administered levodopa to cross the blood–br ...

(Lodosyn) to increase central norepinephrine concentrations while minimizing increases of peripheral levels.

Chemistry

Droxidopa, also known as L-''threo''-dihydroxyphenylserine (L-DOPS), is chemically analogous to

levodopa -DOPA, also known as levodopa and -3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, is an amino acid that is made and used as part of the normal biology of some plants and animals, including humans. Humans, as well as a portion of the other animals that utilize -DOPA ...

(L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine; L-DOPA). Whereas levodopa functions as a precursor and prodrug to

dopamine Dopamine (DA, a contraction of 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine) is a neuromodulatory molecule that plays several important roles in cells. It is an organic compound, organic chemical of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families. Dopamine const ...

, droxidopa is a precursor and prodrug of

History

Droxidopa was developed by Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals for the treatment of

, including NOH, and NOH associated with various

disorder Disorder may refer to randomness, non-order, or no intelligible pattern. Disorder may also refer to: Healthcare * Disorder (medicine), a functional abnormality or disturbance * Mental disorder or psychological disorder, a psychological pattern a ...

s such as MSA, FAP, and PD, as well as IDH. The drug has been used in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and some surrounding

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n areas for these indications since 1989. Following a merger with Dainippon Pharmaceuticals in 2006,

Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma is a pharmaceutical company based in Japan. Its headquarters are in Chuo-ku, Osaka. The original Dainippon Pharmaceuticals (Dainippon Seiyaku) was established in 1885 by Nagayo Sensai, a graduate of Tekijuku – the first private medical school ...

licensed droxidopa to Chelsea Therapeutics to

develop Develop or DEVELOP may refer to: * ''Develop'' (magazine), a trade publication for the video game industry * ''Develop'' (Apple magazine), a technical magazine formerly published by Apple Computer * Develop (chess), moving a piece from its origina ...

and

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

wide except in Japan,

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. In February 2014, the Food and Drug Administration approved droxidopa for the treatment of symptomatic neurogenic orthostatic hypotension.

Clinical trials

systematic review A systematic review is a Literature review, scholarly synthesis of the evidence on a clearly presented topic using critical methods to identify, define and assess research on the topic. A systematic review extracts and interprets data from publ ...

and

meta-analysis A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. Meta-analyses can be performed when there are multiple scientific studies addressing the same question, with each individual study reporting me ...

conducted on

clinical trials Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

comparing the clinical use of droxidopa and

midodrine Midodrine is a vasopressor/ antihypotensive agent (it raises the blood pressure). Midodrine was approved in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996 for the treatment of dysautonomia and orthostatic hypotension. In A ...

have found that midodrine was more likely to cause supine hypertension than droxidopa in patients with NOH. Midodrine was also found to be slightly more effective at raising blood pressure but not statistically significantly so. Chelsea Therapeutics obtained

orphan drug status An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent developed to treat medical conditions which, because they are so rare, would not be profitable to produce without government assistance. The conditions are referred to as orphan diseases. The assignment o ...

(ODS) for droxidopa in the US for NOH, and that of which associated with PD, PAF, and MSA. In 2014, Chelsea Therapeutics was acquired by Lundbeck along with the rights to droxidopa which was launched in the US in Sept 2014.

Research

Droxidopa alone and in combination with

has been studied in the treatment of

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...

(ADHD).

References

External links

* {{Portal bar , Medicine Amino acids Catecholamines Phenylethanolamines Prodrugs