Nicomorphine Stats & Data

Nicomorphine was first synthesized in 1904. Over fifty years later, the compound was patented under the trade name Vilan by the Austrian pharmaceutical company Lannacher Heilmittel G.m.b.H. in 1957. That same year, Pongratz and Zirm published the synthesis methodology in the journal Monatshefte für Chemie, describing the treatment of anhydrous morphine base with nicotinic anhydride at elevated temperatures. Their article also detailed the preparation of the related analogues nicocodeine and nicodicodeine as part of a broader examination of amides and esters of various organic acids. Nicomorphine has found medical application primarily in German-speaking countries and other regions of Central Europe, as well as in some countries of the former Soviet Union. It is used clinically for the management of post-operative pain, cancer-related pain, and chronic non-malignant and neuropathic pain conditions. The compound was never introduced to the United States medical market. Outside of pharmaceutical channels, nicomorphine occasionally appears on the European black market. It can be produced through improvised methods analogous to heroin homebake processes, involving the treatment of morphine with nicotinic anhydride or related chemicals.