Cross-species metabolic characterization of eutylone and mechanism-based inhibition of CYP2D6 and CYP2B6 with drug interaction implications.
Scientific reports April 16, 2026 Min Seo Lee, Im-Sook Song, Yeonsu Jang et al.
Eutylone, a synthetic cathinone increasingly found in toxicology cases, is often used with other drugs. This work characterized its metabolism and interaction potential. Eutylone showed moderate plasma protein binding and pronounced species differences in clearance, with rat data poorly translating to humans. Twenty metabolites were identified across multiple pathways; four were rodent-specific. CYP2D6 was the primary enzyme for a key metabolic step, with secondary roles for CYP2C19 and CYP2B6. Eutylone caused time-dependent inhibition of CYP2D6 and CYP2B6, comparable to MDMA, suggesting it could increase exposure to co-used drugs metabolized by these enzymes, a clinically relevant risk in polydrug misuse.