Levodropropizine: A promising peripherally acting antitussive agent

Cough is one of the most frequent symptom for patients to seek medical attention. Cough can be associated with many disease processes and the ultimate treatment depends on determining the etiology and diagnosis. Antitussive agents with different mechanisms of action have been developed in the past, but there are still very few medications that seem to be effective without any side effects especially related to central nervous system (CNS). Levodropropizine is an antitussive agent which acts peripherally and is a non-opioid cough medication that is in use since many years as a symptomatic therapy for cough. Levodropropizine has potent antitussive activity mainly due to peripheral effects by inhibiting the activation of vagal C-fibers. In fact, levodropropizine has been proven effective in controlling cough and is devoid of the central depressant effect. Levodropropizine oral suspension (30mg/5ml) is approved by drug approval body of India, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for the management non-productive cough in adults. Levodropropizine is approved in some of the European countries and in Asian countries. It is widely used in Republic of Korea for the symptomatic treatment of cough in both adults and children above 2 years of age. Levodropropizine has the utmost level of benefit in comparison with central antitussive agents namely codeine and dextromethorphan for the patients with cough due to acute and chronic bronchitis.