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Hemantane is an antiparkinsonian drug with pronounced analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. The present work evaluated topical gel dosage forms based on it for analgesic activity. It was found that gel batches 070916, 080916, and 090916 exhibited analgesic activity using the formalin test in rats and diminished behavior characteristic of pain in the inflammation-mediated tonic phase of formalin-induced pain. 5% hemantane gel batch 080916 exhibited the most distinct analgesic activity because this dosage form decreased pain indicators even in the acute phase related to the effect of formalin on primary pain afferents.

Hemantane is a novel antiparkinsonian drug that is undergoing clinical trials. Hemantane in the dosage range 10 – 40 mg/kg demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity and decreased statistically significantly the intensity of the exudative reaction in an acetic-acid peritonitis model in mice. Hemantane (10 mg/kg) in a neuro-inflammation model induced by lipopolysaccharide injection in rats prevented loss of body mass, development of forepaw akinesia contralateral to the operation, and smell disturbance.

In a recent leading article in PharmacoEconomics, Nuijten described some methods for incorporating uncertainty into health economic models and for utilising the information on uncertainty regarding the cost effectiveness of a therapy in resource allocation decision-making. His proposals are found to suffer from serious flaws in statistical and health economic reasoning.

We studied the effects of antiparkinsonian drug himantane (acute and subchronic administration) on the content of dopamine transporter protein DAT in rat striatum ex vivo and on the content of DTA in cultured PC-12 cells (10(-5) - 10(-7) M, the preparation was added to the incubation medium once or 7 times). The preparation significantly reduced the content of DAT protein both ex vivo and in vitro.

The clinical potency of 3 drugs, apomorphine, N-propylnorapomorphine, and bromocryptine, have been found to be closely correlated to their potencies in competing for 3H-haloperidol and 3H-spiroperidol both of which label the dopamine receptor. This correlation indicates that the direct binding assay may be used to predict clinical potencies of anti-parkinsonian drugs, and indicates that agonists as well as antagonists compete potently for 3H-neuroleptic binding.