Recainam is a novel, orally available compound with potent class I antiarrhythmic activity.

Recainam was administered at a loading dose of 4.5 mg/kg/hour over 40 minutes, followed by a maintenance infusion of 0.9 mg/kg/hour for 23 hours and 20 minutes. The mean frequency of total VPCs decreased by 92.6% and the mean frequency of runs decreased by 99.9% during the maintenance infusion. Suppressions of > or = 70% of total VPCs and > or = 90% of runs were maintained over the 23-hour, 20-minute maintenance infusion period in 16 of the 18 patients. During the maintenance infusion, hourly group plasma Recainam concentrations ranged from mean +/- SD 2.6 +/- 0.7 to 3.4 +/- 0.9 micrograms/ml. The following pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained: terminal elimination half-life, 5.0 +/- 0.8 hours; systemic clearance, 0.27 +/- 0.08 liter/hour/kg; and central and steady-state volume of distribution, 0.32 +/- 0.11 and 1.4 +/- 0.4 liter/kg, respectively.[2]