Mepacrine
chemical compound
Mepacrine, also called quinacrine or by the trade names Atabrine or Atebrin, is a medication with several uses. It is related to chloroquine and mefloquine. Although available from compounding pharmacies, as of August 2020 approved formulations are not available in the United States.
Medical uses
The main uses of mepacrine are as an antiprotozoal, antirheumatic, and an intrapleural sclerosing agent.
Mepacrine finds off-label use as a primary antimicrobial agent for patients with metronidazole-resistant giardiasis and patients who should not receive or cannot tolerate metronidazole. Giardiasis with a high level of drug resistance may even require a combination of mepacrine and metronidazole to cure.
Mepacrine is also used off-label for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus, indicated in the treatment of discoid and subcutaneous lupus manifestations, particularly in patients who are unable to take hydroxychloroquine.
As an sclerosing agent, it is used as pneumothorax prophylaxis in patients at high risk of recurrence, e.g., in those with cystic fibrosis.
Mepacrine is not the drug of choice because side effects are common, including toxic psychosis, and may cause permanent damage. See mefloquine for more information.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mepacrine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.