olsalazine olsalazine olsalazine is an anti-inflammatory medication used in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. it is sold under the brand name dipentum. olsalazineclinical datatrade namesdipentumahfs/drugs.commonographmedlineplusa601088license data us dailymed: olsalazine pregnancycategory au: c routes ofadministrationby mouthatc codea07ec03 (who) legal statuslegal status au: s4 (prescription only) uk: pom (prescription only) us: ℞-only pharmacokinetic dataprotein binding99%elimination half-life0.9 hoursidentifierscas number15722-48-2 ypubchem cid22419drugbankdb01250 ychemspider10642377 yuniiuls5i8j03okeggd08295 nas salt: d00727 nchemblchembl425 ncomptox dashboard (epa)dtxsid8023391 echa infocard100.116.494 chemical and physical dataformulac14h10n2o6molar mass302.242 g·mol−13d model (jsmol)interactive image smiles o=c(o)c1cc(ccc1o)/n=n/c2cc(c(o)=o)c(o)cc2 inchi inchi=1s/c14h10n2o6/c17-11-3-1-7(5-9(11)13(19)20)15-16-8-2-4-12(18)10(6-8)14(21)22/h1-6,17-18h,(h,19,20)(h,21,22)/b16-15+ ykey:qqbdljcygrgakp-foclmdbbsa-n y ny (what is this?) (verify) olsalazine itself is a pro-drug of mesalazine (5-aminosalicyclic acid or 5-asa) and is not absorbed in the small intestine. instead it continues through to the colon where it is cleaved into two molecules of 5-asa by azoreductases produced by colonic bacteria. olsalazine thus exerts its anti-inflammatory effect by its colonic breakdown into 5-asa which inhibits cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase thereby reducing prostaglandin and leukotriene production. history olsalazine gained food and drug administration (fda) approval in 1990. supply the drug is supplied by ucb pharma. research in 2006 the australian biotech company giaconda received a european patent for a combination therapy for treating constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome that uses olsalazine and the anti-gout drug colchicine, for trials the following year.