Busulfan 25mg capsules
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Busulfan is a bifunctional alkylating agent, having a selective immunosuppressive effect on bone marrow.
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Official medicine documents
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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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.
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Busulfan
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.
1 branded products available
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and NHS BNF section grouping. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
Clinical guidelines and formulary information
British National Formulary
Busulfan
Source: British National Formulary, NICE. Joint Formulary Committee. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
NICE clinical guidance(4)
Treosulfan with fludarabine for malignant disease before allogeneic stem cell transplant (TA640)
Ruxolitinib for treating polycythaemia vera (TA921)
Exagamglogene autotemcel for treating transfusion-dependent beta-thalassaemia in people 12 years and over (TA1003)
Exagamglogene autotemcel for treating severe sickle cell disease in people 12 years and over (TA1044)
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 & product information
Official product databases and supply status monitoring
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. emc (electronic medicines compendium) is operated by Datapharm Ltd. Shortage information sourced from NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS), sps.nhs.uk.
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 codes from NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). 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.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
None known
Half-life
2.6 hours
Mechanism
Busulfan is an alkylating agent that contains 2 labile methanesulfonate groups a…
Food interactions
4 warnings
Human targets
1 target
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
2 mg
Half-life
2.6 hours
Protein binding
32%
Metabolism
Elimination
30%
Clearance
2.52 ml/min/kg
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Known interactions with other medications. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 911 interactions
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
In children (1.5 - 6 years old), the absolute bioavailability was 68% ± 31%. When a single oral dose is given to patients, the area under the curve (AUC) was 130 ng•hr/mL. The peak plasma concentration when given orally is 30 ng/mL (after dose normalization to 2 mg).
It takes 0.9 hours to reach peak plasma concentration after dose normalization to 4 mg.
Other GST isoforms that are also involved are GSTM1 and GSTP1. At least 12 metabolites have been identified among which tetrahydrothiophene, tetrahydrothiophene 12-oxide, sulfolane, and 3-hydroxysulfolane were identified. These metabolites do not have cytotoxic activity.
Enzymes involved in drug metabolism — important for understanding drug interactions
ATC L01AB01
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)
Busulfan
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
9556
ChemSpider
2384
BindingDB
50237623
ZINC
ZINC000001530572
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:4632
GenAtlas
GSTM1
GeneCards
GSTM1
GenBank Gene Database
X08020
GenBank Protein Database
31924
UniProt Accession
GSTM1_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:4638
GenAtlas
GSTP1
GeneCards
GSTP1
GenBank Gene Database
M24485
GenBank Protein Database
31946
UniProt Accession
GSTP1_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:7063
GenAtlas
MGST2
GeneCards
MGST2
GenBank Gene Database
U77604
GenBank Protein Database
1747521
UniProt Accession
MGST2_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:2637
GenAtlas
CYP3A4
GeneCards
CYP3A4
GenBank Gene Database
M18907
Guide to Pharmacology
1337
UniProt Accession
CP3A4_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:4627
GenAtlas
GSTA2
GeneCards
GSTA2
GenBank Gene Database
M16594
GenBank Protein Database
306811
UniProt Accession
GSTA2_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:4626
GenAtlas
GSTA1
GeneCards
GSTA1
GenBank Gene Database
M15872
GenBank Protein Database
306809
UniProt Accession
GSTA1_HUMAN
International reference pricing
Reference pricing from DrugBank. Prices are indicative and may not reflect current UK costs.
Source: DrugBank. Used under CC BY-NC 4.0 academic licence for non-commercial purposes.
Patent information
All patents expired, 1 expired
Source: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0. Patent data sourced from national patent offices. Expiry dates may not reflect extensions, regulatory exclusivity periods, or legal challenges.
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite the following publications: