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PharmGKB · ClinPGx

Verapamil Pathway, Pharmacokinetics

PA166165076 Last updated June 2024 Caroline F. Thorn.
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Conditions
55
Reactions
Verapamil Pathway, Pharmacokinetics pathway diagram
Verapamil Pathway, Pharmacokinetics — pathway diagram from PharmGKB / ClinPGx
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About this pathway

Background

Verapamil is a calcium channel blocker used in the treatment of hypertension and coronary artery disease [Article:9809930].

Metabolism

Verapamil undergoes extensive first pass metabolism with less than 5% of the parent drug excreted unchanged [Article:38084]. It is a racemic mixture of R- and S-enantiomers, with the S-enantiomer cleared more rapidly than the R-enantiomer [Article:6508982]. The main types of metabolic reactions are N-dealkylation, N-demethylation and O-demethylation [Articles:10336579, 8750925]

The main metabolite found in urine is D-617, comprising approximately 22% of verapamil dose, and is formed by N-dealkylation [Articles:38084, 8750925]. In microsomes expressing CYPs, this reaction was catalyzed by CYP3A4, CYP3A5 and CYP2C8 [Article:10336579]. The authors noted that CYP2E1 was also capable of forming D-617 but at a rate 20-fold lower than those observed with the other isoforms and likely not clinically relevant [Article:10336579]. Other reports list CYP1A2 as involved in the N-dealkylation of verapamil [Article:8750925] however experiments with expressed proteins in microsomes did not observe this [Article:10336579] and other in vitro drug-drug interaction experiments suggested verapamil acts as an inhibitor of CYP1A2 rather than as a substrate [Article:1516612]. D-617 can be further metabolized to PR-25, also described as D-717 and metabolite VII which is found excreted in urine at around 6% of dose [Articles:10336579, 38084].

Metabolites R-norverapamil (arverapamil) and S-norverapamil are formed by N-demethylation and comprise approximately 6% of dose [Article:8750925]. The main enzymes responsible for formation of these metabolites are CYP3A4, CYP3A5 and CYP2C8 [Article:10336579]. In experiments with the CYP1A2 inhibitor furafylline, the production of norverapamil from verapamil was slightly decreased indicating CYP1A2 has only a minor role in this part of the pathway [Article:1516612]. While CYP3A5 appears to metabolize R-verapamil and S-verapamil equally to form norverapamil, CYP3A4 has stereoselective preferences. When R-verapamil is the substrate for CYP3A4 then D-617 is the predominant product however when S-verapamil is the substrate then norverapamil is the main product [Article:10336579].

The third branch of metabolism is O-demethylation to D-702 and D-703 and then to D-620 [Articles:10336579, 8750925]. PubChem structures are not available for D-702 and D-703 and therefore these are not represented in the gpml. D-620 is represented in the gpml, however it can be difficult to indicate which enzymes are responsible for the reaction from verapamil to D-702 or D-703 and which for the reaction from D-702 to D-620. It is also unclear whether D-703 can be converted to D-620. Norverapamil can also be converted to D-620 by CYP2C8 and CYP3A4 [Article:10336579]. CYP3A5 has stereoselectivity in the conversion of verapamil and norverapamil to D-620, with the rate of formation from S-verapamil twice that of from R-verapamil. In addition, only the S enantiomer of norverapamil was converted to D-620 [Article:10336579].

Reactions & interactions (55)

  • Biochemical Reaction
    verapamil verapamil D-620
  • Biochemical Reaction
    (s)-norverapamil verapamil D-620
  • Biochemical Reaction
    (s)-norverapamil verapamil D-620
  • Biochemical Reaction
    verapamil (s)-norverapamil
  • Biochemical Reaction
    verapamil (s)-norverapamil
  • Biochemical Reaction
    (s)-norverapamil verapamil PR-22
  • Biochemical Reaction
    verapamil verapamil D-617
  • Biochemical Reaction
    (s)-norverapamil verapamil PR-22
  • Biochemical Reaction
    verapamil D-617 verapamil PR-25
  • Catalysis
    ABCB1 Transport
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A5 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A4 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2C8 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A4 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A5 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2C8 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A4 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A5 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2E1 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP1A2 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A5 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A4 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2C8 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    ABCB1 Transport
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A4 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A5 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2E1 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2C8 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP1A2 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2C8 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2D6 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2C8 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A5 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP3A4 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP1A2 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2C8 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    CYP2D6 Biochemical Reaction
  • Catalysis
    ABCB1 Transport
  • Inhibition
    verapamil ABCB1
  • Inhibition
    verapamil PR-22 ABCB1
  • Inhibition
    (s)-norverapamil ABCB1
  • Inhibition
    (s)-norverapamil CYP3A4
  • Inhibition
    (s)-norverapamil CYP3A4
  • Inhibition
    (s)-norverapamil ABCB1
  • Inhibition
    furafylline CYP1A2
  • Inhibition
    verapamil CYP1A2
  • Inhibition
    grapefruit juice CYP3A4
  • Inhibition
    verapamil D-617 CYP3A4
  • Inhibition
    verapamil CYP3A4
  • Leads To
    verapamil CYP3A5
  • Showing first 50 of 55 reactions — full data preserved in database.

Edit history (3)

  • 2017-06-19 Create
  • 2019-02-27 Update Updated to new illustrator formatting.
  • 2024-06-13 Update fixed typos
Verapamil Pathway, Pharmacokinetics pathway diagram (enlarged)