[The effect of flupirtine on respiratory drive in healthy probands and patients with various lung diseases]

Abstract

We investigated the effect of a novel analgesic compound, flupirtine on the respiratory center in 8 healthy controls and patients with lung emphysema (n = 6), bronchial asthma (n = 7) and lung fibrosis (n = 5). All patients received a in a double blind, randomized fashion on three separate study days 100 mg and 200 mg flupirtine and placebo, respectively. Respiratory drive was estimated from measurements of CO2-rebreathing curves and mouth occlusion pressure at rest and during CO2-rebreathing performed before, 1.5 and 3 hours after medication. We were unable to detect any significant depression of respiratory drive neither in the controls nor in the patients and therefore suggest that flupirtine is a safe analgetic compound even in patients with severe obstructive and restrictive lung function impairment.