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Fenamates

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Compendium of Inflammatory Diseases
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Synonyms

Aminobenzoic acid derivatives; Anthranilic acid derivatives; Fenamates; Fenamic acids

Definition

The fenamates are a group of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), of which there are only four major clinically used members: flufenamic acid, meclofenamic acid, mefenamic acid, and tolfenamic acid. The fenamates are nonselective NSAIDs whose general pharmacological properties are described elsewhere in this encyclopedia. Etofenamate is an ester of flufenamic acid which is hydrolyzed to flufenamic acid.

Chemistry

The fenamates are substituted derivatives of anthranilic acid (Fig. 1). Their logP values (logarithm of partition coefficient of unionized form between octanol and water) are approximately 5. Thus, the unionized forms are very lipid soluble. All the fenamates are carboxylic acids with pKa values of about 4 and are therefore >99 % ionized at physiological pH values. These physicochemical properties are typical of many acidic drugs and are associated with high...

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Correspondence to Garry G. Graham .

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Graham, G.G. (2016). Fenamates. In: Parnham, M. (eds) Compendium of Inflammatory Diseases. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-0620-6_24-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-0620-6_24-1

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