The metabolic profiles for luliconazole were investigated in the excreta (urine, feces, and bile) in rats and dogs and in vitro assays. The suggested pathway at an early stage starts with isomerization (Z-isomer), followed by cleavage of dithiolan ring leading to the formation of various conjugates, and eventually cleavage of imidazole ring to low molecular weight metabolites. In an in vitro study using CYP-expressing microsomes, it was revealed that primarily two enzymes, CYP2D6 and CYP3A4, were involved in the metabolism of luliconazole, and the metabolites in animals and humans were similar. After single and multiple percutaneous applications of cream formulation in rats, radioactivity mainly resided on the application site in the horny layer of skin. There was almost no metabolism of luliconazole in the skin. After a single percutaneous application of luliconazole cream 1% formulation to rats, 4.2 and 9.4% of the administered radioactivity was excreted in the urine and feces, respectively, indicating bile as the major route of elimination. However, in dogs the amounts of radioactivity in the urine and feces were almost equal. In another study, administration of radioactive bile from one set of rats to another set of rats confirmed the enterohepatic circulation of drug and its metabolites. In vitro microsomal assays, luliconazole inhibited a spectrum of CYP isoforms; most strongly inhibited was CYP2C19, followed by CYP3A4. However because of very high parent drug-plasma protein binding leaving a very low amount of free drug in the plasma, it is highly unlikely that luliconazole will interact with other drugs to alter their plasma concentrations.