Isopropyl myristate is a polar skin moisturizer that is used to enhance skin penetration of drugs. Isopropyl myristate has been largely studied and impulsed as a skin penetration enhancer.
- Mechanism
- Curator reviewed · 16 references
As a pediculicide, isopropyl myristate is capable of physically coating the exoskeleton bodies of lice. This physical coating subsequently immobilizes the lice and works to dissolve the wax covering on the insect exoskeleton and blocks the insects' airways, leading to death by dehydration. Although this physical action of isopropyl myristate results in little lice resistance (given the lack of immunologic or chemical activity in this mechanism of action), the substance is also not ovicidal, which means any eggs that may have been laid by lice would not be affected. Moreover, isopropyl myristate is capable of eliciting its pediculicide action in a contact time of only 10 minutes per each necessary administration.
- Primary indication
- The primary medical indication for which isopropyl myristate is formally used as an active ingredient in a patient care product is as a non-prescription pediculicide rinse.Curator reviewed · 1 structured indication
- Formula / weight
- C17H34O2 · 270.4507 g/mol (avg)
- First approval
- Canada, 2018
- Also known as
- Isopropyl tetradecanoate
- Code names
- BRN 1781127 · FEMA NO. 3556
Resolves to
AXISYYRBXTVTFY-UHFFFAOYSA-NSMILESCCCCCCCCCCCCCC(=O)OC(C)CWhat you can answer from here — as of March 06, 2025
Which other approved drugs treat the same conditions as Isopropyl myristate, and which companies have late-stage candidates in those indications?
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