Cinepazide was discovered by scientists at Laboratoires Delalande (now part of
Sanofi) in 1969 in an effort to explore useful substituted
cinnamoyl-
piperazine compounds.[6][7] The drug, in the form of a pill taken orally, was launched by Delalande in 1976 under the tradename Vasodistal, for treatment of
heart failure,
balance disorders,
cerebrovascular disease, and
vascular complications of diabetes.[6][8] In 1988 the drug was withdrawn from the market in Spain due to risk of
agranulocytosis; other countries where the drug was available added warnings to the label.[9][10] It was withdrawn from the market in France in 1992.[11] The drug had also been marketed in Japan by
Daiichi Pharmeceutical Company under the brand name "Brindel"[2] for dementia, but was withdrawn in 1999, following a review by the Japanese regulatory authorities of dementia drugs after a drug,
calcium hopantenate, that had been considered the standard of care and against which cinepazide and other dementia drugs had been compared, had failed to demonstrate efficacy in a re-evaluation.[12]
In 2002
Sihuan Pharmaceutical brought an injectable form of the drug to market in China;[13] Sihuan had acquired the drug from a military hospital in China that had developed the formulation.[14] In 2010 it was the highest selling drug in China, with about 1 billion RMB in sales in the 3rd quarter, outselling
Plavix in China.[13][3] This made Sihuan Pharm the largest company in China in the cardio-cerebral vascular drug market in 2010.[3] In 2014 it was the tenth highest-selling drug in China.[14]
^Cameron BD, Chasseaud LF, Hawkins DR, Taylor T (July 1976). "The metabolic fate of the coronary vasodilator 4-(3,4,5-Trimethoxycinnamoyl)-1-(N-pyrrolidinocarbonylmethyl)piperazine (cinepazide) in the rat, dog and man". Xenobiotica; the Fate of Foreign Compounds in Biological Systems. 6 (7): 441–55.
doi:
10.3109/00498257609151657.
PMID997590.