Nicardipine HCl capsules for oral administration each contain 20 mg or 30 mg of nicardipine hydrochloride. Nicardipine HCl is a calcium ion flux inhibitor (slow channel blocker or calcium channel blocker).

Nicardipine hydrochloride is a dihydropyridine structure with the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) chemical name 2- (benzyl-methyl amino)ethyl methyl 1,4-dihydro-2,6-dimethyl-4-(m-nitrophenyl)-3,5-pyridinedicarboxylate monohydrochloride, and it has the following structure:

Nicardipine hydrochloride is a greenish-yellow, odorless, crystalline powder that melts at about 169°C. It is freely soluble in chloroform, methanol, and glacial acetic acid, sparingly soluble in anhydrous ethanol, slightly soluble in n-butanol, water, 0.01 M potassium dihydrogen phosphate, acetone, and dioxane, very slightly soluble in ethyl acetate, and practically insoluble in benzene, ether and hexane. It has a molecular weight of 515.99.

CARDENE is available in hard gelatin capsules containing 20 mg or 30 mg nicardipine hydrochloride with magnesium stearate and pregelatinized starch as the inactive ingredients. the 20 mg strength is provided in opaque white-white capsules with a brilliant blue band while the 30 mg capsules are opaque light blue-powder blue with a brilliant blue band. The colorants used in the 20 mg capsules are titanium dioxide, D&C Red #7 Calcium Lake and FD&C Blue #1 and the 30 mg capsules use titanium dioxide, FD&C Blue #1, D&C Yellow #10 Aluminum Lake, D&C Red #7 Calcium Lake and FD&C Blue #2.

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