DESCRIPTION
Chlorthalidone is an oral antihypertensive/diuretic. It is a monosulfamyl diuretic that differs chemically from thiazide diuretics in that a double-ring system is incorporated in its structure. It is 2-chloro-5-(1-hydroxy-3-oxo-1-isoindolinyl) benzenesulfonamide, with the following structural formula:
C14H11CIN2O4S M.W. 338.76
Chlorthalidone is practically insoluble in water, in ether and in chloroform; soluble in methanol; slightly soluble in alcohol.
Each tablet for oral administration contains 25 mg or 50 mg of chlorthalidone, USP.
Tablets also contain colloidal silicon dioxide, crospovidone, anhydrous lactose, povidone, sodium starch glycolate, stearic acid, FD&C Yellow #6 (25 mg), FD&C Blue #1 (50 mg) and D&C Yellow #10 (50 mg).
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CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY
Chlorthalidone is an oral diuretic with prolonged action (48-72 hours) and low toxicity. The major portion of the drug is excreted unchanged by the kidneys. The diuretic effect of the drug occurs in approximately 2.6 hours and continues for up to 72 hours. The mean half-life following a 50 to 200 mg dose is 40 hours. In the first order of absorption, the elimination half-life is 53 hours following a 50 mg dose and 60 hours following a 100 mg dose. Approximately 75 percent of the drug is bound to plasma proteins, 58 percent of the drug being bound to albumin. This is caused by an increased affinity of the drug to erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase. Nonrenal routes of elimination have yet to be clarified. Data are not available regarding percentage of dose as unchanged drug and metabolites, concentration of the drug in body fluids, degree of uptake by a particular organ or in the fetus, or passage across the blood-brain barrier.
The drug produces copious diuresis with greatly increased excretion of sodium and chloride. At maximal therapeutic dosage chlorthalidone is approximately equal in its diuretic effect to comparable maximal therapeutic doses of benzothiadiazine diuretics. The site of action appears to be the cortical diluting segment of the ascending limb of Henle’s loop of the nephron.
ANIMAL PHARMACOLOGY
Biochemical studies in animals have suggested reasons for the prolonged effect of chlorthalidone. Absorption from the gastrointestinal tract is slow, due to slow solubility. After passage to the liver, some of the drug enters the general circulation, while some is excreted in the bile, to be reabsorbed later. In the general circulation, it is distributed widely to the tissues, but is taken up in highest concentrations by the kidneys, where amounts have been found 72 hours after ingestion, long after it has disappeared from other tissues. The drug is excreted unchanged in the urine.
Manufactured by:
PLIVA®, Inc.
East Hanover, NJ 07936
P21-0362
Rev. 8/06
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