Indacrinone is a loop diuretic. It can be used in patients of gout with hypertension as an antihypertensive because it decreases reabsorption of uric acid, while other diuretics increase it.
Chirality and biological activity
Indacrinone is a chiral drug, with one chiral center and hence exists as mirror-image twins. (R)-enantiomer, the eutomer, is diuretic whereas the mirror-image version (S)-enantiomer counteracts side effect of the eutomer. Here both the enantiomers contribute to the overall desired effect in different ways.
As indicated earlier, the (R)- enantiomer is the pharmacologically active diuretic. Like most other diuretics, the (R)-isomer possesses an undesirable side-effect of retaining uric acid. But the (S)-enantiomer, the distomer, has the property of assisting uric acid secretion (uricosuric effect), and, therefore, antagonizing the undesirable side-effects of the eutomer (uric-acid retention). It affords a good argument for the marketing of a racemic mixture. But studies exemplify that 9:1 mixture of the two enantiomers provides optimal therapeutic value.