Papaveretum (
BAN) is a preparation containing a mixture of
hydrochloride
In chemistry, a hydrochloride is an acid salt resulting, or regarded as resulting, from the reaction of hydrochloric acid with an organic base (e.g. an amine). An alternative name is chlorhydrate, which comes from French. An archaic alternative n ...
salts of
opium alkaloid
Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar ...
s. Since 1993, papaveretum has been defined in the
British Pharmacopoeia
The ''British Pharmacopoeia'' (''BP'') is the national pharmacopoeia of the United Kingdom. It is an annually published collection of quality standards for medicinal substances in the UK, which is used by individuals and organisations involv ...
(BP) as a mixture of 253 parts
morphine hydrochloride
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. There ...
, 23 parts
papaverine hydrochloride, and 20 parts
codeine hydrochloride.
It is commonly marketed to medical agencies under the
trade name
A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
Omnopon.
Although the use of papaveretum is now relatively uncommon following the wide availability of single-component
opiates and synthetic
opioid
Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Other medical uses include suppression of diarrhea, replacement therapy for opioid use ...
s (e.g.
pethidine
Pethidine, also known as meperidine and sold under the brand name Demerol among others, is a synthetic opioid pain medication of the phenylpiperidine class. Synthesized in 1938 as a potential anticholinergic agent by the German chemist Otto Eis ...
), it is still used to relieve moderate to severe pain and for pre-operative sedation. In clinical settings, papaveretum is usually administered to patients via
subcutaneous,
intramuscular
Intramuscular injection, often abbreviated IM, is the injection of a substance into a muscle. In medicine, it is one of several methods for parenteral administration of medications. Intramuscular injection may be preferred because muscles have ...
, or
intravenous routes. Additionally, the morphine
syrettes found in combat medical kits issued to military personnel actually contain Omnopon.
Prior to 1993, papaveretum also contained
noscapine
Noscapine (also known as Narcotine, Nectodon, Nospen, Anarcotine and (archaic) Opiane) is a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, of the phthalideisoquinoline structural subgroup, which has been isolated from numerous species of the family Papaveraceae ( ...
, though this component was removed from the BP formulation due to the
genotoxic Genotoxicity is the property of chemical agents that damage the genetic information within a cell causing mutations, which may lead to cancer. While genotoxicity is often confused with mutagenicity, all mutagens are genotoxic, but some genotoxic s ...
potential of noscapine.
References
{{Opioidergics
Opiates