Calcitonin (salmon) 400units/2ml solution for injection vials
Synthetic peptide, 32 residues long formulated as a nasal spray.
Safety information for pregnancy and breastfeeding
Pregnancy
Breastfeeding
Always consult your doctor or midwife before taking any medicine during pregnancy or while breastfeeding. Source: DrugBank (CC BY-NC 4.0).
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
Report a side effect
Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
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.
View Drug Analysis Profile
Browse all Drug Analysis Profiles A–Z
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.
Search EudraVigilance database
Browse substances A–Z in the European adverse reaction database
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.
6 branded products available
MHRA licensed products
View all licensed products for Calcitonin salmon on the MHRA register
Calcitonin (salmon) 400units/2ml solution for injection vials
Alliance Healthcare (Distribution) Ltd
WHO defined daily dose (DDD)
100 unit
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 NHS dm+d BNF mapping files. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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
Calcitonin salmon
Source: British National Formulary, NICE. Joint Formulary Committee. 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
58 minutes
Mechanism
Calcitonin binds to the calcitonin receptor (found primarily in osteoclasts) whi…
Food interactions
2 warnings
Human targets
1 target
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
71%
Half-life
58 minutes
Protein binding
30 to 40%
Volume of distribution
0.15 to 0.3 L/kg
Metabolism
Elimination
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Calcitonin can be used in patients with azotemia and cases where intravenous fluids would be contraindicated due to limited cardiac reserves. Also for the treatment of post-menopausal osteoporosis in women more than 5 years post-menopause.
Known interactions with other medications. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 929 interactions
Because of its protein nature, salmon calcitonin may provoke an allergy reaction (bronchospams and swelling of the tongue/throat) that can turn into a full-blown anaphylactic response. The manufacturer also reports an increase in the risk of malignancies from oral route (0.7%) to intranasal route (2.4%) compared to placebo. The same may apply to IV, IM and SC routes since the systemic exposure is higher in those cases.
Nausea is noticeable in some patients but tends to decrease with continued administration.
Rhinitis, headaches and back pain have also been reported among others.
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
Proteins and enzymes this drug interacts with in the body
PMID:35324283 PMID:38603770
CALCR interacts with receptor-activity-modifying proteins RAMP1, 2 and 3 to form receptor complexes AMYR1, 2 and 3, respectively .
PMID:35324283 PMID:38603770
IAPP, CT and CGRP1 activate CALCR and AMYRs with distinct modes of receptor activation resulting in specific phenotypes .
PMID:35324283 PMID:38603770
Ligand binding causes a conformation change that triggers signaling via guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins) and modulates the activity of downstream effectors. Activates cAMP-dependent pathway PMID:35324283 PMID:7476993
ATC H05BA01
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)
Salmon calcitonin
Matched from: Calcitonin salmon
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
13186
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:1440
GenAtlas
CALCR
GeneCards
CALCR
GenBank Gene Database
L00587
GenBank Protein Database
179880
Guide to Pharmacology
43
UniProt Accession
CALCR_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, 4 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: