Paraldehyde 5g/5ml solution for injection vials
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Paraldehyde was initially introduced into medical practice in the United Kingdom in 1882 by the Italian physician Vincenzo Cervello.
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Drug safety updates
MHRA alerts for Paraldehyde
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.
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Paraldehyde
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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.
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EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
1 branded products available
WHO defined daily dose (DDD)
5 gram
Not a recommended dose. The DDD is the assumed average maintenance dose per day for a drug used for its main indication in adults. It is a statistical measure used for research and comparison purposes only.
Source: WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology, distributed via the NHS dm+d supplementary mapping files (NHSBSA). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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
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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. 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: 3 · Randomised trials: 1 · 1921–2024
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Shafique Ahmad, J. Ellis, H. Kamwendo, et al.
Lancet, 2006
W. Thompson, A. D. Johnson, W. L. Maddrey
Annals of internal medicine, 1975
J. Hayward, B. Boshell
The American journal of medicine, 1957
Eva Vrbková, Michaela Vaňková, M. Lhotka, et al.
Molecular Catalysis, 2023
Jia Wang, A. Turner, J. Marks, et al.
Chemphyschem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry, 2024
A. Rowland, A. Gill, A. B. Stewart, et al.
Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2009
R. D. Myers, J. Evans, T. Yaksh
Neuropharmacology, 1972
Api AM, Belsito D, Botelho D, et al.
2024
- Paraldehyde
- Odorants
Oxford English Dictionary, 2023
R. Bangle
Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, 1954
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
1 found
Half-life
7.5 hours
Mechanism
Paraldehyde is believed to reduce the release of acetylcholine in response to neuronal depolarization [A19737].
Food interactions
None known
Human targets
None mapped
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
93%
Half-life
7.5 hours
[A19738]
Metabolism
[A19738]
…
Elimination
70-80%
[A19738]
…
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
[A19735]
It has been used in the treatment of seizures as an anticonvulsant .
[A19736]
Known interactions with other medicines. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 812 interactions
[A19738]
Inhalation of paraldehyde can produce sore throat, headache, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness and unconsciousness but exposure via this route is rare. Chronic use is dependence forming and withdrawal proceeds similarly to ethanol withdrawal producing hallucinations and convulsions. Toxic hepatitis and nephritis have been observed during chronic use.
The acute LD50 values determined for various species are as follows [A19738]:
Rabbit - 3.3-5 g/kg (oral)
Rat - 1.5-1.65 g/kg (oral), 1.3-1.45 g/kg (i.p.)
Dog - 3-4 g/kg (oral)
Mouse - 2.75 (oral)
Cat - 3.3 (oral)
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
[A19738]
[A19738]
It is thought to ultimately be metabolized to carbon dioxide and water.
[A19738]
11-28% is exhaled as the parent compound. 0.1-2.5% is excreted in the urine as the parent compound.
Enzymes involved in drug metabolism — important for understanding drug interactions
ATC N05CC05
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
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Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Paraldehyde
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
5663
ChemSpider
21106173
ZINC
ZINC000000001886
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:404
GenAtlas
ALDH2
GeneCards
ALDH2
GenBank Gene Database
X05409
GenBank Protein Database
28606
Guide to Pharmacology
2595
UniProt Accession
ALDH2_HUMAN
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite:
- DrugBank 6.02024Recommended citationKnox C., Wilson M., Klinger C.M., et alDrugBank 6.0: the DrugBank Knowledgebase for 2024Nucleic Acids Res. 2024 Jan 552(D1):D1265-D1275
- DrugBank 5.02018Wishart D.S., Feunang Y.D., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank 5.0: a major update to the DrugBank database for 2018Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Nov 846(D1):D1074-D1082
- DrugBank 4.02014Law V., Knox C., Djoumbou Y., et alDrugBank 4.0: shedding new light on drug metabolismNucleic Acids Res. 2014 Jan 142(1):D1091-7
- DrugBank 3.02011Knox C., Law V., Jewison T., et alDrugBank 3.0: a comprehensive resource for 'omics' research on drugsNucleic Acids Res. 2011 Jan39(Database issue):D1035-41
- DrugBank 2.02008Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a knowledgebase for drugs, drug actions and drug targets.Nucleic Acids Research2008 Jan36(Database issue):D901-6
- DrugBank 1.02006Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a comprehensive resource for in silico drug discovery and exploration.Nucleic Acids Research2006 Jan 134(Database issue):D668-72