Auranofin 3mg tablets
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Auranofin is a gold salt that is capable of eliciting pharmacologic actions that suppress inflammation and stimulate cell-mediated immunity.
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Safety monitoring data
Yellow Card reports
The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected side effects from healthcare professionals and patients. View the Drug Analysis Profile (iDAP) for real-world adverse reaction data.
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Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Data from the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. A reported reaction does not necessarily mean the medicine caused it. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
EudraVigilance
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) collects suspected adverse reaction reports from across the EU/EEA through the EudraVigilance system. Search for safety data on this medicine.
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Auranofin
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EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
4 branded products available
WHO defined daily dose (DDD)
6 mg
Not a recommended dose. The DDD is the assumed average maintenance dose per day for a drug used for its main indication in adults. It is a statistical measure used for research and comparison purposes only.
Source: WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology, distributed via the NHS dm+d supplementary BNF/ATC mapping files (NHSBSA). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
Check stock at pharmacies and supply information
Pharmacy stock checkers
Search for this medicine at major UK pharmacy chains. These links open the retailer's own website — results depend on their current online catalogue.
Supply & safety information
Official UK regulator monitoring and safety alerts
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. Shortage and safety information sourced from MHRA drug safety updates (gov.uk, Crown Copyright under OGL v3.0).
Codes for healthcare professionals and prescribing systems
These codes are used by healthcare IT systems and prescribers to identify this medicine.
NHS UK identifiers
Browse tools
SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BNF code shown is the factual mapping value distributed by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) in the dm+d supplementary file under OGL v3.0; it is not affiliated with, nor licensed from, the publishers of the British National Formulary. ATC codes from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology (whocc.no).
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 11 · Randomised trials: 3 · 1976–2025
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Farah H. Abdalbari, Carlos M. Telleria
Discover Oncology, 2021
Lei Yang, Hao Wang, Yang Xiang, et al.
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 2020
- Hemochromatosis
- Iron Overload
- Ferroptosis
Shankar Thangamani, Haroon Mohammad, Mostafa F. N. Abushahba, et al.
Scientific Reports, 2016
- Auranofin
- Bacterial Proteins
- Staphylococcal Infections
Takefumi Onodera, Isao Momose, Manabu Kawada
Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 2019
- Antineoplastic Agents
- Auranofin
- Enzyme Inhibitors
Michael E. Weinblatt, Richard P. Polisson, Steven Blotner, et al.
Arthritis & Rheumatism, 1993
- Arthritis, Rheumatoid
- Auranofin
- Methotrexate
Thompson Ms, Read Jl, Hutchings Hc, et al.
PubMed, 1988
- Arthritis, Rheumatoid
- Auranofin
- Clinical Trials as Topic
R. Diaz, I. Shytaj, L. Giron, et al.
International journal of antimicrobial agents, 2019
Xiaonan Zhang, Karthik Selvaraju, Amir Ata Saei, et al.
Biochimie, 2019
- Drug Repositioning
- Bortezomib
- Antineoplastic Agents
Tania Gamberi, Giovanni Chiappetta, Tania Fiaschi, et al.
Medicinal Research Reviews, 2021
- Antineoplastic Agents
- Neoplasms
- Auranofin
Hussin A. Rothan, Shannon Stone, Janhavi P. Natekar, et al.
Virology, 2020
- Betacoronavirus
- COVID-19
- SARS-CoV-2
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
None known
Half-life
Not available
Mechanism
Inflammatory arthritis can cause joint swelling, warmth, pain, and tenderness; o…
Food interactions
1 warning
Human targets
5 targets
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Elimination
60%
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Known interactions with other medications. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 732 interactions
Aside from its probable immune effects in inflammatory arthritis, studies have shown that auranofin inhibits thioredoxin reductase. This enzyme has various roles in cell homeostasis, including the regulation of free radicals.[A230888][A230928] Thioredoxin reductase can be over expressed in various types of tumours, rendering it an attractive target for anticancer drug development.[A230943] Studies have shown that inhibiting thioredoxin reductase can cause oxidative stress and apoptosis of tumour cells by increasing the formation of free radicals. Aurofin's thiol ligand binds with high affinity to thiol and selenol groups, forming irreversible reaction products.[A230888] One study showed that treatment with auranofin increased the production or reactive oxygen species and caused elevation of intracellular calcium concentration in platelets, leading to cell death.[A230943] Another study showed that auranofin enhanced the production of free radicals, governing T-cell activation.[A230893]
Proteins and enzymes this drug interacts with in the body
PMID:20434986 PMID:20797629 PMID:21138416 PMID:30337470 PMID:9346484
Acts as a part of the canonical IKK complex in the conventional pathway of NF-kappa-B activation .
PMID:9346484
Phosphorylates inhibitors of NF-kappa-B on 2 critical serine residues .
PMID:20434986 PMID:20797629 PMID:21138416 PMID:9346484
These modifications allow polyubiquitination of the inhibitors and subsequent degradation by the proteasome .
PMID:20434986 PMID:20797629 PMID:21138416 PMID:9346484
In turn, free NF-kappa-B is translocated into the nucleus and activates the transcription of hundreds of genes involved in immune response, growth control, or protection against apoptosis .
PMID:20434986 PMID:20797629 PMID:21138416 PMID:9346484
In addition to the NF-kappa-B inhibitors, phosphorylates several other components of the signaling pathway including NEMO/IKBKG, NF-kappa-B subunits RELA and NFKB1, as well as IKK-related kinases TBK1 and IKBKE .
PMID:11297557 PMID:14673179 PMID:20410276 PMID:21138416
IKK-related kinase phosphorylations may prevent the overproduction of inflammatory mediators since they exert a negative regulation on canonical IKKs .
PMID:11297557 PMID:20410276 PMID:21138416
Phosphorylates FOXO3, mediating the TNF-dependent inactivation of this pro-apoptotic transcription factor .
PMID:15084260
Also phosphorylates other substrates including NAA10, NCOA3, BCL10 and IRS1 .
PMID:17213322 PMID:19716809
Phosphorylates RIPK1 at 'Ser-25' which represses its kinase activity and consequently prevents TNF-mediated RIPK1-dependent cell death (By similarity). Phosphorylates the C-terminus of IRF5, stimulating IRF5 homodimerization and translocation into the nucleus .
PMID:25326418
Following bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TLR4 endocytosis, phosphorylates STAT1 at 'Thr-749' which restricts interferon signaling and anti-inflammatory responses and promotes innate inflammatory responses .
PMID:38621137
IKBKB-mediated phosphorylation of STAT1 at 'Thr-749' promotes binding of STAT1 to the ARID5A promoter, resulting in transcriptional activation of ARID5A and subsequent ARID5A-mediated stabilization of IL6 .
PMID:32209697
It also promotes binding of STAT1 to the IL12B promoter and activation of IL12B transcription PMID:32209697
PMID:17920186 PMID:19755138
Plays a role, in a LIF-independent manner, in maintainance of self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic and trophoblast stem cells through different signaling pathways including FGF signaling pathway and Wnt signaling pathways. Involved in morula development (2-16 cells embryos) by acting as a regulator at the 8-cell stage (By similarity). Upon FGF signaling pathway activation, interacts with KDM1A by directly binding to enhancer site of ELF5 and EOMES and activating their transcription leading to self-renewal of trophoblast stem cells.
Also regulates expression of multiple rod-specific genes and is required for survival of this cell type (By similarity). Plays a role as transcription factor activator of GATA6, NR0B1, POU5F1 and PERM1 .
PMID:23836911
Plays a role as transcription factor repressor of NFE2L2 transcriptional activity and ESR1 transcriptional activity .
PMID:17920186 PMID:19755138
During mitosis remains bound to a subset of interphase target genes, including pluripotency regulators, through the canonical ESRRB recognition (ERRE) sequence, leading to their transcriptional activation in early G1 phase. Can coassemble on structured DNA elements with other transcription factors like SOX2, POU5F1, KDM1A and NCOA3 to trigger ESRRB-dependent gene activation.
This mechanism, in the case of SOX2 corecruitment prevents the embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to epiblast stem cells (EpiSC) transition through positive regulation of NR0B1 that inhibits the EpiSC transcriptional program. Also plays a role inner ear development by controlling expression of ion channels and transporters and in early placentation (By similarity)
Requires dimerization and the coactivator, PGC-1A, for full activity. The ERRalpha/PGC1alpha complex is a regulator of energy metabolism. Induces the expression of PERM1 in the skeletal muscle
Proteins that carry this drug through the body
PMID:19021548
Major calcium and magnesium transporter in plasma, binds approximately 45% of circulating calcium and magnesium in plasma (By similarity).
Potentially has more than two calcium-binding sites and might additionally bind calcium in a non-specific manner (By similarity). The shared binding site between zinc and calcium at residue Asp-273 suggests a crosstalk between zinc and calcium transport in the blood (By similarity). The rank order of affinity is zinc > calcium > magnesium (By similarity).
Binds to the bacterial siderophore enterobactin and inhibits enterobactin-mediated iron uptake of E.coli from ferric transferrin, and may thereby limit the utilization of iron and growth of enteric bacteria such as E.coli .
PMID:6234017
Does not prevent iron uptake by the bacterial siderophore aerobactin PMID:6234017
ATC M01CB03
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
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Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Auranofin
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
1898
ChemSpider
5293650
BindingDB
496687
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:9355
GenAtlas
PRDX5
GeneCards
PRDX5
GenBank Gene Database
AJ249483
GenBank Protein Database
6523289
UniProt Accession
PRDX5_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:5960
GenAtlas
IKBKB
GeneCards
IKBKB
GenBank Gene Database
AF029684
GenBank Protein Database
2599558
Guide to Pharmacology
2039
UniProt Accession
IKKB_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:3474
GenAtlas
ESRRG
GeneCards
ESRRG
GenBank Gene Database
AF094518
GenBank Protein Database
4092075
Guide to Pharmacology
624
UniProt Accession
ERR3_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:3473
GeneCards
ESRRB
Guide to Pharmacology
623
UniProt Accession
ERR2_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:3471
GeneCards
ESRRA
GenBank Gene Database
X51416
GenBank Protein Database
36609
Guide to Pharmacology
622
UniProt Accession
ERR1_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:399
GenAtlas
ALB
GeneCards
ALB
GenBank Gene Database
V00494
GenBank Protein Database
28590
UniProt Accession
ALBU_HUMAN
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite the following publications:
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Structured knowledge from the free knowledge base
ATC classifications (Wikidata)
Linked open data from Wikidata (Q421230), a free and open knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Data is available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. WHO INN from the World Health Organization.