Pantothenic acid derivatives

General information

The pantothenic acid derivatives include pantothenic acid, pantothenol, dexpanthenol, and hopantenic acid.

Pantothenic acid (vitamin B ₅ ) has been proposed as a treatment for hair loss. It has been used to treat pantothenic acid deficiency, acne, and rheumatoid arthritis. Over the past 30 years, only mild adverse reactions, such as rash and diarrhea, have been reported.

Hopantenate (calcium d -(+)-4-(2, 4-dihydroxy-3, 3-dimethylbutyramido)butyrate hemihydrate), or calcium hopantenate, is a homoanalogue of l -pantothenate and has been used in Japan for the treatment of mental retardation with behavioral abnormalities. It represents one of the many attempts that have been made, so far unsuccessfully, to develop derivatives of substances belonging to the vitamin B group as agents for the treatment of brain or nervous disorders [ ].

Adverse reactions, sometimes fatal, have been reported in patients taking calcium hopantenate, notably encephalopathy with metabolic acidosis and semicoma [ ] and a Reye-like syndrome [ ]; this may be due to pantothenic acid deficiency, as hopantenate is a pantothenic acid antagonist. In elderly people, liver dysfunction and gastrointestinal upsets have been reported [ , ]. In Japan, where the product was introduced in 1978, the control authorities in 1988 issued a series of warnings with respect to problems caused by hopantenate [ ].