ATC Group: C01BB Antiarrhythmics, class Ib

The World Health Organization's ATC classification organizes medical drugs based on therapeutic properties, chemical composition, and anatomy. It helps make essential medicines readily available globally and is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry.

Position of C01BB in the ATC hierarchy

Level Code Title
1 C Cardiovascular system
2 C01 Cardiac therapy
3 C01B Antiarrhythmics, class I and III
4 C01BB Antiarrhythmics, class Ib

Group C01BB contents

Code Title
C01BB01 Lidocaine
C01BB02 Mexiletine
C01BB03 Tocainide
C01BB04 Aprindine

Active ingredients in C01BB

Active Ingredient Description
Lidocaine

Lidocaine, like other local anaesthetics, causes a reversible blockade of impulse propagation along nerve fibres by preventing the inward movement of sodium ions through the nerve membrane. Local anaesthetics of the amide-type are thought to act within the sodium channels of the nerve membrane.

Mexiletine

Mexiletine blocks sodium channels with a stronger potency in situations of excessive burst of action potentials (use-dependent block) and/or prolonged depolarization (voltage-dependent block), as occurring in diseased tissues, rather than on physiological excitability (resting or tonic block). Mexiletine is, therefore, mostly active on muscle fibres subject to repeated discharges (such as skeletal muscles). It improves myotonic symptoms by decreasing muscle stiffness through reduction of the delay of muscle relaxation.

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