Levobupivacaine 50mg/10ml solution for injection ampoules
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Levobupivacaine is an amino-amide local anaesthetic drug belonging to the family of n-alkylsubstituted pipecoloxylidide.
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
Report a side effect
Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Official medicine documents
Safety monitoring data
Yellow Card reports
The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected side effects from healthcare professionals and patients. View the Drug Analysis Profile (iDAP) for real-world adverse reaction data.
View Drug Analysis Profile
Suspected adverse reactions reported for Levobupivacaine
Browse all iDAP reports
Interactive Drug Analysis Profiles for all medicines
Report a side effect
Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Data from the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. A reported reaction does not necessarily mean the medicine caused it. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
EudraVigilance
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) collects suspected adverse reaction reports from across the EU/EEA through the EudraVigilance system. Search for safety data on this medicine.
View EudraVigilance report
Suspected adverse reactions reported for Levobupivacaine
About EudraVigilance
Learn about EU pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring
EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
4 branded products available
MHRA licensed products
View all licensed products for Levobupivacaine on the MHRA register
Levobupivacaine 50mg/10ml solution for injection ampoules
Levobupivacaine 50mg/10ml solution for injection ampoules
Levobupivacaine 50mg/10ml solution for injection ampoules
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
Check stock at pharmacies and supply information
Pharmacy stock checkers
Search for this medicine at major UK pharmacy chains. These links open the retailer's own website — results depend on their current online catalogue.
Supply & safety information
Official UK regulator monitoring and safety alerts
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. Shortage and safety information sourced from MHRA drug safety updates (gov.uk, Crown Copyright under OGL v3.0).
Codes for healthcare professionals and prescribing systems
These codes are used by healthcare IT systems and prescribers to identify this medicine.
NHS UK identifiers
Browse tools
SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BNF code shown is the factual mapping value distributed by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) in the dm+d supplementary file under OGL v3.0; it is not affiliated with, nor licensed from, the publishers of the British National Formulary. ATC codes from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology (whocc.no).
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 5 · Randomised trials: 32 · 1998–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Sukhminder JitSingh Bajwa, Jasleen Kaur
Journal of Anaesthesiology Clinical Pharmacology, 2013
Alharran AM, Alotaibi MN, Alenezi YY, et al.
2025
Background and aimsBrachial plexus block (BPB) is advantageous for elective orthopaedic or reconstructive upper limb surgery. However, the optimal local anaesthetic in BPB remains debatable. Therefore, we aim to investigate the efficacy and safety of levobupivacaine versus ropivacaine in BPB for upper limb surgery.MethodsA systematic review and meta-analysis synthesising randomised controlled trials (RCTs), retrieved by systematically searching PubMed, EMBASE, WOS, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and CENTRAL since inception till June 2024. Continuous and dichotomous outcome variables were pooled using mean difference (MD) and risk ratio (RR), with a 95% confidence interval (CI), using Stata v. 17. We assessed heterogeneity using the Chi-square test and I2 statistic.ResultsSixteen RCTs and 939 patients were included. Levobupivacaine was significantly associated with a longer sensory block duration [MD: 1.66 (95% CI: 1.43, 1.89), P P = 0.03]. However, there was no difference between both groups in time to sensory block [MD: -0.30 (95% CI: -1.31, 0.71), P = 0.56], time to motor block [MD: -0.29 (95% CI: -1.26, 0.67), P = 0.55], pain score [MD: -0.48 (95% CI: -2.13, 1.16), P = 0.56], rescue analgesia rate [RR: 0.94 (95% CI: 0.74, 1.20), P = 0.64], and complications [RR: 0.47 (95% CI: 0.20, 1.13), P = 0.09].ConclusionsLevobupivacaine is significantly associated with a longer duration of sensory and motor block in patients undergoing BPB for upper limb surgery compared to ropivacaine, with a similar safety profile. However, there was no difference regarding the time to onset of the sensory or motor block.
Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Alkhabbaz A, Karam M, Ghafri MA, et al.
2025
- Bupivacaine
- Anesthesia, Local
- Nerve Block
J. Allam, S. Malhotra, C. Hemingway, et al.
Anaesthesia, 2008
- Cesarean Section
- Lidocaine
- Levobupivacaine
Ang Li, Zhijian Wei, Yang Liu, et al.
Medicine, 2017
Xuan Wei, Xiaoxiao Yao
Surgical Laparoscopy, Endoscopy & Percutaneous Techniques, 2020
A. Louizos, S. Hadzilia, Emmanuel Leandros, et al.
Surgical Endoscopy, 2005
- Preoperative Care
- Levobupivacaine
- Anesthetics, Local
Bruno Guido Locatelli, Pablo Ingelmo, Valter Sonzogni, et al.
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2004
- Anesthetics, Local
- Abdomen
- Ropivacaine
I. Yildiz, H. Bayır, H. Yoldaş
Gulhane Medical Journal, 2017
Daniel Salgado-García, Agustín Díaz-Álvarez, J. L. González-Rodríguez, et al.
Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2024
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
10 found
Half-life
3.3 hours
Mechanism
Local anesthetics such as Levobupivacaine block the generation and the conductio…
Food interactions
None known
Human targets
1 target
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
30 minutes
Half-life
3.3 hours
Protein binding
97%
Volume of distribution
18.23 L
Metabolism
Elimination
95%
Clearance
13.29 L/h
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
pipecoloxylidide. It is the S-enantiomer of bupivacaine. Levobupivacaine hydrochloride is commonly marketed by AstraZeneca under the trade name Chirocaine. In particular, the specific levobupivacaine enantiomer is a worthwhile pursuit because it demonstrates less vasodilation and possesses a greater length of action in comparison to bupivacaine. It is approximately 13 per cent less potent (by molarity) than racemic bupivacaine.Levobupivacaine is indicated for local anaesthesia including infiltration, nerve block, ophthalmic, epidural and intrathecal anaesthesia in adults; and infiltration analgesia in children. When administered appropriately, the occurrence of adverse effects is not anticipated much if at all. In general, the majority of potential adverse effects are predominantly associated with inappropriate administration methods that may cause systemic exposure and/or toxicity associated with overexposure to an anesthetic. Regardless, allergic reactions may also occur - although only rarely.
Known interactions with other medications. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 2348 interactions
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
Metabolic inversion of levobupivacaine to R(+)-bupivacaine was not evident both in vitro and in vivo.
Proteins and enzymes this drug interacts with in the body
Enzymes involved in drug metabolism — important for understanding drug interactions
ATC N01BB10
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Show
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Levobupivacaine
Additional database identifiers
ChemSpider
83289
BindingDB
50417951
PDB
OJ0
ZINC
ZINC000001530812
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:10582
GenAtlas
SCN10A
GeneCards
SCN10A
GenBank Gene Database
AF117907
GenBank Protein Database
4838145
Guide to Pharmacology
585
UniProt Accession
SCNAA_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:2637
GenAtlas
CYP3A4
GeneCards
CYP3A4
GenBank Gene Database
M18907
Guide to Pharmacology
1337
UniProt Accession
CP3A4_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:2596
GenAtlas
CYP1A2
GeneCards
CYP1A2
GenBank Gene Database
Z00036
Guide to Pharmacology
1319
UniProt Accession
CP1A2_HUMAN
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite the following publications:
Show earlier publications
Structured knowledge from the free knowledge base
ATC classifications (Wikidata)
Linked open data from Wikidata (Q3272027), a free and open knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Data is available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. WHO INN from the World Health Organization.