I was in tears laughing as I read the investigator's brochure for fospropofol on a flight to Baltimore. Fospropofol was a water-soluble prodrug of propofol, rapidly metabolized into phosphate and propofol. Fospropofol was being developed, in part, to eliminate propofol pain on injection. Unfortunately, phosphate makes your genitals burn, as every anesthesiologist who has given a bolus of I.V. dexamethasone phosphate or codeine phosphate to an awake patient knows (no anesthesiologist ever does this twice). It struck me as an uneven trade. What, exactly, is one supposed to tell the patient before inducing with fospropofol?
During the presentation I had been asked to give, I explained that the perceived benefits (slower onset and offset) were not benefits at all. I also shared my view that genital burning was a showstopper. To my amazement, and against both the available evidence and scientific first principles, the company leadership was convinced that fospropofol...