Isoetarine

General information

Isoetarine is a beta-adrenoceptor agonist bronchodilator given orally in a modified-release formulation [ ]. It is slightly more beta ₂ -selective than isoprenaline but has a beta-blocking metabolite.

When isoetarine was compared with salbutamol in the treatment of acute severe asthma in adults who received hourly nebulized isoetarine 5 mg or salbutamol 2.5 mg the two drugs were equally effective in relieving bronchoconstriction [ ]. However, there were adverse reactions in 36% of patients who used isoetarine and 4% of those who used salbutamol, including dizziness, nervousness, and bouts of palpitation, tremor, headache, and worsening shortness of breath.