Respiratory agents

Nikethamide is a stimulant which mainly affects the respiratory cycle. Widely known by its former trade name of Coramine, it was used in the mid-twentieth century as a medical countermeasure against tranquilizer overdoses, before the advent of endotracheal intubation and positive-pressure lung expansion. It is no longer commonly considered to be of value for such purposes.

Doxapram is a respiratory stimulant, or analeptic. Administered intravenously, doxapram stimulates an increase in tidal volume, and respiratory rate.

Budesonide/formoterol, sold under the brand name Symbicort among others, is a fixed-dose combination medication used in the management of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It contains budesonide, a steroid; and formoterol, a long-acting β2-agonist (LABA). The product monograph does not support its use for sudden worsening or treatment of active bronchospasm. However, a 2020 review of the literature does support such use. It is used by breathing in the medication.

Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), also known as pentylenetetrazole, pentetrazol (INN), and pentamethylenetetrazol, is a drug formerly used as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. High doses cause convulsions, as discovered by Hungarian-American neurologist and psychiatrist Ladislas J. Meduna in 1934. It has been used in convulsive therapy, and was found to be effective in treating depression, but side effects, such as uncontrolled seizures, were difficult to avoid. In 1939, pentylenetetrazol was replaced by electroconvulsive therapy, which is easier to administer, as the preferred method for induci

Bemegride, sold under the brand name Megimide among others, is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant first manufactured in 1911, and which has been used in hypnotic overdose.

Amiphenazole (Daptazile) is a respiratory stimulant traditionally used as an antidote for barbiturate or opiate overdose, usually in combination with bemegride, as well as poisoning from other sedative drugs and treatment of respiratory failure from other causes. It was considered particularly useful as it could counteract the sedation and respiratory depression produced by morphine but with less effect on analgesia. It is still rarely used in medicine in some countries, although it has largely been replaced by more effective respiratory stimulants such as doxapram and specific opioid antagoni

Almitrine (marketed as Duxil by Servier) is a diphenylmethylpiperazine derivative classified as a respiratory stimulant by the ATC. It enhances respiration by acting as an agonist of peripheral chemoreceptors located on the carotid bodies. The drug increases arterial oxygen tension while decreasing arterial carbon dioxide tension in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It may also prove useful in the treatment of nocturnal oxygen desaturation without impairing the quality of sleep. A significant literature exists for this compound, including over 60 papers that Medline labels a

Zacopride is a potent antagonist at the 5-HT3 receptor and an agonist at the 5-HT4 receptor. It has anxiolytic and nootropic effects in animal models, with the (R)-(+)-enantiomer being the more active form. It also has antiemetic and pro-respiratory effects, both reducing sleep apnea and reversing opioid-induced respiratory depression in animal studies. Early animal trials have also revealed that administration of zacopride can reduce preference for and consumption of ethanol.

(+)-BW373U86 is an opioid analgesic drug used in scientific research.

Etamivan (INN, or ethamivan (USAN); trade names Analepticon, Emivan, and Vandid) is a respiratory stimulant drug related to nikethamide. It was mainly used in the treatment of barbiturate overdose and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but has now largely fallen into disuse.

Dimefline is a respiratory stimulant.

CX-546 is an ampakine drug developed by Cortex Pharmaceuticals.