Embutramide

Embutramide (Embutane) is a potent sedative drug. It was developed as a general anaesthetic agent, but was found to have a very narrow therapeutic window, with a 50mg/kg dose producing effective sedation, but a 75mg/kg dose was fatal. Along with strong sedative effects, embutramide also produces respiratory depression and ventricular arrythmia. This meant that it has never been adopted for medical use as an anaesthetic as it is far too dangerous for this purpose, but instead is used for euthanasia in veterinary medicine, mainly for euthanising dogs. It is formulated as a combination product under the brand name Tributame, which also contains chloroquine and lidocaine.

Embutamide is used for euthanasia of a range of different animals, mainly small animals kept as pets rather than large farm animals. It may cause significant pain to the animal being euthanised, and so may be less humane than older drugs used for this purpose such as pentobarbital, however it may have less abuse potential than barbiturates especially in the Tributame combination formulation, and so is less likely to be diverted for recreational abuse. Embutramide has however been reported to be used for suicide by people with access to the drug, and was added to the list of Schedule III drugs in the USA in 2006.