AB-FUBICA.

AB-FUBICA belongs to the group of indole-3-carboxamides with a valinamide head, of which it is the indole-ring homologue of AB-FUBINACA. According to Qian et al. (2016), it was synthesised by Banister's team in 2015, whose study reports for all its compounds EC50 values of 0.24 to 21 nM at CB1 and 0.88 to 15 nM at CB2; the value specific to AB-FUBICA could not be re-read. What the literature establishes is limited to three elements: its identification in a powder seized in China in 2015; its phase I metabolism on human liver microsomes, dominated by N-dealkylation and hydroxylation of the valinamide fragment; and its structural membership of a class whose studied members are full agonists at CB1, whereas THC is only a partial agonist. This maximal efficacy, without any ceiling effect comparable to that of THC, is the mechanism by which the other molecules of the class cause convulsions, delirium, cardiac rhythm disturbances, intractable vomiting, acute kidney injury and death. For AB-FUBICA itself, no clinical observation, no case series and no death have been published, no therapeutic benefit is established, and human data are entirely lacking.

Source

An entirely synthetic molecule, absent from cannabis and from every living organism. It comes from clandestine laboratory production: the seizure that led to its identification consisted of bulk powder manufactured in China. None of this has anything to do with hemp or with cannabidiol products.

No biosynthetic pathway exists: the molecule is produced by no living organism and derives from no plant precursor. It belongs exclusively to synthetic chemistry.

European Union

There is no single narcotics list at Union level: control operates through national legislation, through the United Nations conventions and, for a few substances only, through addition to the annex of Framework Decision 2004/757/JHA after a formal risk assessment. AB-FUBICA has been the subject of no European risk assessment and does not appear in that annex: it is therefore not controlled at Union level as such. Internationally, the molecule appears neither in the Single Convention of 1961 nor in the 1971 Convention. Its close indazole-ring neighbour, AB-FUBINACA, was added to Schedule II of the 1971 Convention in 2020: a difference of a single atom in the ring is enough to change international status, and confusing the two codes leads to false conclusions in both directions.

France

Classified as a narcotic in France, but not under its own name: AB-FUBICA appears by name in no decree. It falls under a generic clause of annex IV of the decree of 22 February 1990, the one covering derivatives of 3-carboxamide indole, introduced by the decree of 31 March 2017. That definition covers molecules bearing on the nitrogen of the indole ring a substituent of the alkyl, haloalkyl or halobenzyl type, and whose carboxamide bridge nitrogen bears in particular a group of the 1-amino-1-oxo-butan-2-yl type, with possible substitutions at position 3. The 4-fluorobenzyl group and the valinamide head of AB-FUBICA fall within this description: attachment therefore occurs through a generic clause, and not through a listing by name. The clause relating to tetrahydrocannabinols, their esters, ethers and salts (in annex III of the consolidated list since the decision of 6 February 2026) does not apply here, the molecule being neither an ester, nor an ether, nor a salt of THC. Production, possession, transfer, importation and use fall under the narcotics regime. The substance has no food, cosmetic or therapeutic status and enters no lawful cannabidiol product.

Sources: EUR-Lex, UNODC, CND, ANSM, IUPHAR/BPS, ChEBI, EUDA. Our method.

Family

Synthetic CB receptor agonist › New psychoactive substance

Class

indole-3-carboxamide

Verification

Classification, sources and binding values checked on 20 October 2026; text read against its sources and Wikipedia.

Wikipedia (English)

AB-FUBICA (new tab)

Article paired by the molecule's structure (InChIKey), revision read on 19 October 2026. Read as a second opinion, never cited as a source.

1. 1Qian Z, Hua Z, Liu C, Jia W. Four types of cannabimimetic indazole and indole derivatives, ADB-BINACA, AB-FUBICA, ADB-FUBICA, and AB-BICA, identified as new psychoactive substances. Forensic Toxicol. 2016;34(1):133-143. First identification of AB-FUBICA in illicit products: about 20 kg of powders seized in June 2015 in a clandestine laboratory in Hubei, China; the article states that the compound was synthesised by Banister in 2015 and reported as a potent modulator of CB1 and CB2. (new tab)PMID 26793280
2. 2Li J, Liu C, Li T, Hua Z. UPLC-HR-MS/MS-based determination study on the metabolism of four synthetic cannabinoids, ADB-FUBICA, AB-FUBICA, AB-BICA and ADB-BICA. Biomed Chromatogr. 2018;32(1):e4113. Phase I metabolism on human liver microsomes and proposed urinary markers. (new tab)PMID 28992356
3. 3Banister SD, Moir M, Stuart J, et al. Pharmacology of indole and indazole synthetic cannabinoid designer drugs AB-FUBINACA, ADB-FUBINACA, AB-PINACA, ADB-PINACA, 5F-AB-PINACA, 5F-ADB-PINACA, ADBICA and 5F-ADBICA. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2015;6(9):1546-1559. All the compounds synthesised (including, according to Qian 2016, AB-FUBICA) are high-potency agonists of CB1 (EC50 from 0.24 to 21 nM) and of CB2 (EC50 from 0.88 to 15 nM); full text not consulted. (new tab)PMID 26134475
4. 4PubChem, Compound Summary CID 129532610, AB-FUBICA. Identifiers, formula, molecular mass and synonyms. (new tab)
5. 5Légifrance, Annex IV of the order of 22 February 1990 setting the list of substances classified as narcotics: generic definition of indole-3-carboxamide derivatives and clause relating to tetrahydrocannabinols. (new tab)
6. 6Légifrance, order of 31 March 2017 amending the order of 22 February 1990, introducing twelve generic families of synthetic cannabinoids including indole-3-carboxamide derivatives. (new tab)
7. 7ANSM, consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated 16 February 2026: generic family « indole-3-carboxamide derivatives » (Annex IV) (new tab)

SMILES

CC(C)[C@@H](C(=O)N)NC(=O)C1=CN(C2=CC=CC=C21)CC3=CC=C(C=C3)F

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

LLM ingestion format: a structured superset of the entry (identifiers, binding, versioned legal status). Full corpus.