Tags: Drug.
Mephenytoin (marketed as Mesantoin by Novartis) is a hydantoin used as an anticonvulsant. It was introduced approximately 10 years after phenytoin in the late 1940s. The significant metabolite of mephenytoin is nirvanol (5-ethyl-5-phenylhydantoin) which was the first hydantoin (briefly used as a hypnotic). However nirvanol is quite toxic and mephenytoin was only considered after other less toxic anticonvulsants had failed.
