Riociguat

**Semantic type:** Pharmacologic Substance

**Definition:** An orally bioavailable stimulator of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), with vasodilating activity. Upon oral administration, riociguat directly stimulates the catalytic activity of sGC. In addition, riociguat stabilizes the binding of nitric oxide (NO) to sGC. Altogether this stimulates the NO-sGC-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) pathway and increases the formation of the intracellular second messenger cGMP, which results in smooth muscle relaxation and vasodilation. sGC, a heme-containing cytoplasmic signaling enzyme, catalyzes the formation of cGMP from guanosine triphosphate (GTP) in response to NO binding to heme. Riociguat stimulates sGC independently of and synergistically with NO.

**Synonyms:** - Adempas - BAY 63-2521 - BAY-63-2521 - BAY63-2521 - RIOCIGUAT