Talk:Astemizole

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[edit] Cytochrome p450 3A4

My understanding is that Astemizole is a prodrug, which is expected to be metabolised into its active metabolite by first-pass hepatic metabolism; the prodrug is cardiotoxic, leading to an increased QTc on overdoes or when administered to a patient with impaired 3A4 activity. Unfortunately, I'm pulling this from a 10 year old text book, and the book prefaces its explanation of this with the statement that it hasn't been conclusively proven. Does anyone have a more up to date source, and if so, is this the correct explanation (I don't want to add misinformation, and I hate to use a book with a 1996 copyright as a source). --Badger151 04:18, 16 October 2006 (UTC)