dorzolamide dorzolamide dorzolamide, sold under the brand name trusopt among others, is a medication used to treat high pressure inside the eye, including in cases of glaucoma. it is used as an eye drop. effects begin within three hours and last for at least eight hours. it is also available as the combination dorzolamide/timolol. dorzolamideclinical datatrade namestrusopt, othersahfs/drugs.commonographmedlineplusa602022routes ofadministrationtopical (eye drops)atc codes01ec03 (who) legal statuslegal status us: ℞-only pharmacokinetic dataprotein binding~33%elimination half-life4 monthsidentifiers iupac name (4s,6s)-4-(ethylamino)-6-methyl-7,7-dioxo-5,6-dihydro-4h-thienothiopyran-2-sulfonamide cas number120279-96-1 nhcl: 130693-82-2 ypubchem cid5284549iuphar/bps6810drugbankdb00869 ychemspider4447604 yunii9jdx055tw1hcl: qzo5366ew7 ykeggd07871 nchebichebi:4702 ychemblchembl218490 ycomptox dashboard (epa)dtxsid7022960 echa infocard100.229.271 chemical and physical dataformulac10h16n2o4s3molar mass324.43 g·mol−13d model (jsmol)interactive image smiles ccnc1cc(c)s(=o)(=o)c2sc(cc12)s(=o)(=o)n inchi inchi=1s/c10h16n2o4s3/c1-3-12-8-4-6(2)18(13,14)10-7(8)5-9(17-10)19(11,15)16/h5-6,8,12h,3-4h2,1-2h3,(h2,11,15,16)/t6-,8-/m0/s1 ykey:iavupmfitxyvaf-xpuuqocrsa-n y ny (what is this?) (verify) common side effects include eye discomfort, eye redness, taste changes, and blurry vision. serious side effects include steven johnson syndrome. those allergic to sulfonamides may be allergic to dorzolamide. use is not recommended in pregnancy or breastfeeding. it is a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor and works by decreasing the production of aqueous humour. dorzolamide was approved for medical use in the united states in 1994. it is available as a generic medication. in 2020, it was the 216th most commonly prescribed medication in the united states, with more than 2 million prescriptions. it is a second-generation carbonic anhydrase inhibitor. medical uses dorzolamide hydrochloride is used to lower excessive intraocular pressure in open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension. this drug is able to cross the cornea, reach the ciliary body of the eye, and produce systemic effects on the carbonic anhydrase enzyme within the eye. side effects ocular stinging, burning, itching and bitter taste. it causes shallowing of the anterior chamber and leads to transient myopia. as a second generation carbonic anhydrase inhibitor, dorzolamide avoids systemic effects associated with first generation carbonic anhydrase inhibitors such as acetazolamide, methazolamide, and dichlorphenamide. pharmacodynamics dorzolamide lowers intraocular pressure by about 20%. normally, carbonic anhydrase converts carbonic acid (h2co3) into bicarbonate (hco3), releasing a proton (h+) into solution. the h+ is then exchanged for sodium (na+) ions, which facilitates the production of aqueous humor . by blocking the function of carbonic anhydrase, the na+/h+ exchange is unable to occur, which leads to a decrease in na+ in the cell and prevents aqueous humor production . history this drug, developed by merck, was the first drug in human therapy (market introduction 1995) that resulted from structure-based drug design. it was developed to circumvent the systemic side effects of acetazolamide which has to be taken orally.