Pharmaceutical Products

1. Basic Information:
Product Name Procaine
Synonym Novocaine, Novocain
CAS 59-46-1
MF C13H20N2O2
MW 236.31
EINECS 200-426-9
Assay 99%
Quality Standards Enterprise Standard/Pharma Grade
Appearance White powder

2. Overview:
Procaine is a local anesthetic drug of the amino ester group. It is used primarily to reduce the pain of intramuscular injection of penicillin, and it is also used in dentistry. Owing to the ubiquity of the trade name Novocain, in some regions procaine is referred to generically as novocaine. It acts mainly by being a sodium channel blocker. Today it is used therapeutically in some countries due to its sympatholytic, anti-inflammatory, perfusion enhancing, and mood enhancing effects.
3.Pharmacology:
The primary use for procaine is as a topical anaesthetic.
(1) Procaine is used less frequently today since more effective (and hypoallergenic) alternatives such as lidocaine (Xylocaine) exist. It has been discontinued from US markets. Like other local anesthetics (such as mepivacaine, and prilocaine), procaine is a vasodilator, and is often coadministered with epinephrine for the purpose of vasoconstriction. Vasoconstriction helps to reduce bleeding, increases the duration and quality of anesthesia, prevents the drug from reaching systemic circulation in large amounts, and overall reduces the amount of anesthetic required.
(2) Procaine, an ester anesthetic, is metabolized in the plasma by the enzyme pseudocholinesterase through hydrolysis into para-amino benzoic acid (PABA), which is then excreted by the kidneys into the urine.
(3) A 1% procaine injection has been recommended for the treatment of extravasation complications associated with venipuncture (along with moist heat, ASA, steroids, antibiotics). It has likewise been recommended for treatment of inadvertent intra-arterial injections (10 ml of 1% procaine), as it helps relieve pain and vascular spasm.