Bexarotene 75mg capsules
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Bexarotene (Targretin) is an antineoplastic agent indicated by the FDA for Cutaneous T cell lymphoma.
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
Report a side effect
Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Official medicine documents
Yellow Card
Report side effects (MHRA)
Drug safety updates
MHRA alerts for Bexarotene
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.
View Drug Analysis Profile
Suspected adverse reactions reported for Bexarotene
Browse all iDAP reports
Interactive Drug Analysis Profiles for all medicines
Report a side effect
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.
View EudraVigilance report
Suspected adverse reactions reported for Bexarotene
About EudraVigilance
Learn about EU pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring
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
MHRA licensed products
View all licensed products for Bexarotene on the MHRA register
Targretin 75mg capsules
Bexarotene 75mg capsules
Bexarotene 75mg capsules
Bexarotene 75mg capsules
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
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
NICE clinical guidance(3)
Brentuximab vedotin for treating CD30-positive cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (TA577)
Mogamulizumab for previously treated mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome (TA754)
Chlormethine gel for treating mycosis fungoides-type cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (TA720)
Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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. 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: 12 · Randomised trials: 1 · 2001–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Erica Ginsburg, K. Hennessy, R. Mhaskar, et al.
Dermatologic Therapy, 2022
Ginsburg, E (via Mendeley Data)
2021
J. Cummings, K. Zhong, J. Kinney, et al.
Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, 2016
Madeleine Duvic, Kenneth Hymes, Peter Heald, et al.
Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2001
Yangtao Liu, Pengwei Wang, Guofang Jin, et al.
Ageing research reviews, 2023
Ayushi Mahajan, L. Singh, Gurjeet Singh, et al.
Tumor Discovery, 2023
Danyang Shen, Xiaoming Yu, Yan Wu, et al.
Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy, 2018
Sheern C, Levell NJ, Craig PJ, et al.
2025
- Mycosis Fungoides
- Skin Neoplasms
Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the commonest subtype of cutaneous lymphoma, characterized by the infiltration of malignant T-cell clones into the skin. It accounts for approximately 60% of all cutaneous T-cell lymphoma diagnoses. MF has three distinct clinical stages - patch, plaque and tumour - presenting most commonly on the buttocks, trunk and breast. The presentation often mimics common inflammatory dermatoses such as eczema and psoriasis. Despite numerous theories, the aetiology of MF remains mostly unknown. Since its first description in 1806, diagnosis has remained a challenge and requires careful clinicopathological correlation. Patients may require multiple skin biopsies, especially at the patch stage, to identify the characteristic epidermotropic infiltrates of small-to-medium-sized lymphocytes. First-line management involves skin-directed therapies such as topical corticosteroids and phototherapy. If these are unsuccessful, systemic medications such as interferon-α, oral bexarotene, methotrexate and novel antibody therapies are trialled. MF can also respond to localized radiotherapy, total skin electron beam therapy and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Despite being primarily a cutaneous lymphoma, MF can progress to involve other organs. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis and management of MF.
Abstract licence: CC BY
Rajesh Kushwaha, Virendra Singh, Biplob Koch, et al.
2025
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
7 hours
Mechanism
Bexarotene selectively binds with and activates retinoid X receptor subtypes.
Food interactions
1 warning
Human targets
3 targets
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Half-life
7 hours
Protein binding
99%
Elimination
1%
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Known interactions with other medicines. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 1067 interactions
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
Proteins and enzymes this drug interacts with in the body
PMID:10874028 PMID:11162439 PMID:11915042 PMID:37478846
Forms homo- or heterodimers with retinoic acid receptors (RARs) and binds to target response elements in response to their ligands, all-trans or 9-cis retinoic acid, to regulate gene expression in various biological processes .
PMID:10195690 PMID:11162439 PMID:11915042 PMID:16107141 PMID:17761950 PMID:18800767 PMID:19167885 PMID:28167758 PMID:37478846
The RAR/RXR heterodimers bind to the retinoic acid response elements (RARE) composed of tandem 5'-AGGTCA-3' sites known as DR1-DR5 to regulate transcription .
PMID:10195690 PMID:11162439 PMID:11915042 PMID:17761950 PMID:28167758
The high affinity ligand for retinoid X receptors (RXRs) is 9-cis retinoic acid .
PMID:1310260
In the absence of ligand, the RXR-RAR heterodimers associate with a multiprotein complex containing transcription corepressors that induce histone deacetylation, chromatin condensation and transcriptional suppression .
PMID:20215566
On ligand binding, the corepressors dissociate from the receptors and coactivators are recruited leading to transcriptional activation .
PMID:20215566 PMID:37478846 PMID:9267036
Serves as a common heterodimeric partner for a number of nuclear receptors, such as RARA, RARB and PPARA .
PMID:10195690 PMID:11915042 PMID:28167758 PMID:29021580
The RXRA/RARB heterodimer can act as a transcriptional repressor or transcriptional activator, depending on the RARE DNA element context .
PMID:29021580
The RXRA/PPARA heterodimer is required for PPARA transcriptional activity on fatty acid oxidation genes such as ACOX1 and the P450 system genes .
PMID:10195690
Together with RARA, positively regulates microRNA-10a expression, thereby inhibiting the GATA6/VCAM1 signaling response to pulsatile shear stress in vascular endothelial cells .
PMID:28167758
Acts as an enhancer of RARA binding to RARE DNA element .
PMID:28167758
May facilitate the nuclear import of heterodimerization partners such as VDR and NR4A1 .
PMID:12145331 PMID:15509776
Promotes myelin debris phagocytosis and remyelination by macrophages .
PMID:26463675
Plays a role in the attenuation of the innate immune system in response to viral infections, possibly by negatively regulating the transcription of antiviral genes such as type I IFN genes .
PMID:25417649
Involved in the regulation of calcium signaling by repressing ITPR2 gene expression, thereby controlling cellular senescence PMID:30216632
The high affinity ligand for RXRs is 9-cis retinoic acid (By similarity)
Enzymes involved in drug metabolism — important for understanding drug interactions
ATC L01XF03
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Show
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Bexarotene
Additional database identifiers
ChemSpider
74139
BindingDB
50032675
PDB
9RA
Guide to Pharmacology
2807
ZINC
ZINC000001539579
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:10477
GenAtlas
RXRA
GeneCards
RXRA
GenBank Gene Database
X52773
GenBank Protein Database
35885
Guide to Pharmacology
610
UniProt Accession
RXRA_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:10478
GenAtlas
RXRB
GeneCards
RXRB
GenBank Gene Database
X63522
GenBank Protein Database
30448
Guide to Pharmacology
611
UniProt Accession
RXRB_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:10479
GenAtlas
RXRG
GeneCards
RXRG
GenBank Gene Database
U38480
GenBank Protein Database
1053069
Guide to Pharmacology
612
UniProt Accession
RXRG_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:2622
GenAtlas
CYP2C8
GeneCards
CYP2C8
GenBank Gene Database
M17397
Guide to Pharmacology
1325
UniProt Accession
CP2C8_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:2637
GenAtlas
CYP3A4
GeneCards
CYP3A4
GenBank Gene Database
M18907
Guide to Pharmacology
1337
UniProt Accession
CP3A4_HUMAN
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite:
- DrugBank 6.02024Recommended citationKnox C., Wilson M., Klinger C.M., et alDrugBank 6.0: the DrugBank Knowledgebase for 2024Nucleic Acids Res. 2024 Jan 552(D1):D1265-D1275
- DrugBank 5.02018Wishart D.S., Feunang Y.D., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank 5.0: a major update to the DrugBank database for 2018Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Nov 846(D1):D1074-D1082
- DrugBank 4.02014Law V., Knox C., Djoumbou Y., et alDrugBank 4.0: shedding new light on drug metabolismNucleic Acids Res. 2014 Jan 142(1):D1091-7
- DrugBank 3.02011Knox C., Law V., Jewison T., et alDrugBank 3.0: a comprehensive resource for 'omics' research on drugsNucleic Acids Res. 2011 Jan39(Database issue):D1035-41
- DrugBank 2.02008Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a knowledgebase for drugs, drug actions and drug targets.Nucleic Acids Research2008 Jan36(Database issue):D901-6
- DrugBank 1.02006Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a comprehensive resource for in silico drug discovery and exploration.Nucleic Acids Research2006 Jan 134(Database issue):D668-72