Nefiracetam

Nefiracetam

Clinical data
Routes of administration	Oral
ATC code	none
Legal status
Legal status	US: Unscheduled
Pharmacokinetic data
Biological half-life	3-5 hours
Identifiers
IUPAC name N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-2-(2-oxopyrrolidin-1-yl)acetamide
CAS Number	77191-36-7 N
PubChem CID	71157
ChemSpider	64299 Y
UNII	1JK12GX30N
ChEMBL	CHEMBL260829 Y
ECHA InfoCard	100.163.910
Chemical and physical data
Formula	C14H18N2O2
Molar mass	246.305 g/mol
3D model (Jmol)	Interactive image
SMILES O=C2N(CC(=O)Nc1c(cccc1C)C)CCC2
InChI InChI=1S/C14H18N2O2/c1-10-5-3-6-11(2)14(10)15-12(17)9-16-8-4-7-13(16)18/h3,5-6H,4,7-9H2,1-2H3,(H,15,17) Y Key:NGHTXZCKLWZPGK-UHFFFAOYSA-N Y
NY (what is this?)

Nefiracetam is a nootropic antidementia drug of the racetam family.

Nefiracetam's cytoprotective actions are mediated by enhancement of GABAergic, cholinergic, and monoaminergic neuronal systems. It has been shown to effectively treat apathy and improve motivation in post-stroke patients. It has been shown to exhibit antiamnesia effects for the Alzheimer's type and cerebrovascular type of dementia. In addition, it has also been shown to have antiamnesia effects against a wide variety of memory impairing substances, including: ethanol, chlorodiazepoxide (Librium), scopolamine, bicuculline, picrotoxin, and cycloheximide.

Studies of long term consumption of nefiracetam in humans and primates have shown it to have no toxicity. However, animals which metabolize nefiracetam differently from humans and primates are at risk for renal and testicular toxicity. Dogs especially are particularly sensitive, which has been shown to be caused by a specific metabolite, M-18. Higher doses than those in dogs were needed to cause testicular toxicity in rats, although no toxicity was seen in monkeys. Additionally, there has been no evidence of toxicity during clinical trials.