DY-9760e (3-[2-[4-(3-chloro-2-methylphenyl)-1-piperazinyl]ethyl]-5,6-dimethoxy-1-4-imidazolylmethyl)-1H-indazole dihydrochloride 3.5 hydrate, CAS 162496-41-5) is a novel calmodulin antagonist that is being evaluated for the treatment of ischemia. The objective of this study was to characterize the pharmacokinetics and disposition of DY-9760e in rats and monkeys. After a 6 h continuous infusion at 1 mg/kg/h to male rats, the plasma concentration of unchanged DY-9760, as the anhydrous free base of DY-9760e, declined with a terminal half-life of 3.0 h. In monkeys, the plasma concentration of DY-9760 following a 4 h continuous infusion at 1 mg/kg/h declined with a terminal half-life of 3.8 h. Total clearance was 18.3 ml/min/kg in rats and 16.7 ml/min/kg in monkeys. The pharmacokinetics of DY-9760e was linear within a dose range from 1 mg/kg to 16 mg/kg in monkeys. After intravenous bolus administration of 14C-DY-9760e to rats, the radioactivity was widely distributed throughout the body except for the brain and testis. In the brain, which is the target organ of this compound, the concentrations of unchanged DY-9760 in rats were much lower than the corresponding plasma concentrations. These results indicated that the permeability of DY-9760 into the brain was restricted. In contrast, the brain concentrations of the N-dealkylated metabolite DY-9836 were approximately 2- to 3-fold higher than those observed in the plasma. The administered radioactivity was excreted mostly in the feces (95.2% in rats, 83.6% in monkeys), and the biliary excretion of the radioactivity in bile duct-cannulated rats was 86.2% within 48 h, part of which (11.1%) was re-absorbed. The urinary excretion of unchanged DY-9760 was less than 0.5% in both species. The metabolic profile characterized by thin-layer chromatography demonstrated that most of the radioactivity in the urine and bile referred to many polar metabolites. These results indicate that DY-9760e is eliminated mainly through hepatic metabolic clearance in both rats and monkeys.