Fosfomycin 250mg/5ml oral suspension
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
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
Suspected adverse reactions reported for Fosfomycin
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 Fosfomycin
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 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.
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
NICE clinical guidance(7)
Urinary tract infection (lower): antimicrobial prescribing (NG109)
Urinary tract infections in adults (QS90)
Cefiderocol for treating severe drug-resistant gram-negative bacterial infections (AMR2)
Impetigo: antimicrobial prescribing (NG153)
Pyelonephritis (acute): antimicrobial prescribing (NG111)
Point-of-care tests for urinary tract infections to improve antimicrobial prescribing: early value assessment (HTG674)
Ceftazidime with avibactam for treating severe drug-resistant gram-negative bacterial infections (AMR1)
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. 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: 16 · Randomised trials: 14 · 1974–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Béatrice Grabein, W. Graninger, Jesús Rodríguez‐Baño, et al.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 2016
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Bacterial Infections
- Fosfomycin
Matthew E. Falagas, Antonia C. Kastoris, Anastasios Kapaskelis, et al.
The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2009
- Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Enterobacteriaceae
Matthew E. Falagas, Antonia C. Kastoris, Drosos E. Karageorgopoulos, et al.
International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 2009
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Drug Synergism
- Endocarditis, Bacterial
Konstantinos Z. Vardakas, Nikolaos J. Legakis, Nikolaos A. Triarides, et al.
International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 2016
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Fosfomycin
- Gram-Negative Bacteria
Marin H. Kollef, Jean-Damien Ricard, Damien Roux, et al.
CHEST Journal, 2016
- Administration, Inhalation
- Amikacin
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
Matthew E. Falagas, Evridiki K. Vouloumanou, Antonios G. Togias, et al.
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 2010
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Bacterial Infections
- Cystitis
Ildikó Gágyor, Jutta Bleidorn, Michael M. Kochen, et al.
BMJ, 2015
- Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Fosfomycin
Miquel Pujol, J. M. Miró, Evelyn Shaw, et al.
Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2020
- Endocarditis
- Fosfomycin
- Staphylococcal Infections
Lynn L. Silver
Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 2017
- Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Fosfomycin
Anneke C. Dijkmans, Natalia V. Ortiz Zacarı́as, Jacobus Burggraaf, et al.
Antibiotics, 2017
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
Fosfomycin exerts its bactericidal effects by binding covalently to a cysteine i…
Food interactions
1 warning
Human targets
None mapped
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
34-58%
[A229338][A229343][A229348][L31818]…
Half-life
[L31818]
Protein binding
[A229343][A229348]
Volume of distribution
0.3 L/Kg
Metabolism
[A229343][A229348]
Elimination
[A229343]
Factors including administration with food, impaired renal function, and older age may reduce the rate of fosfomycin elimination.
[A229338]…
Clearance
4.7 L/h
[A230443]
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Due to its ease of administration as a single 3-gram oral dose and desirable safety profile, fosfomycin has largely become a first-line therapeutic option for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in females.[A230378] Despite being FDA approved only for urinary tract infections, fosfomycin actually has a broad spectrum of activity and is active against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.[A230348] As such there is great interest in exploring the usefulness of fosfomycin for indications beyond the treatment of UTIs.[A230353][A230358]
[L31818]
It is also indicated to treat adults with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), including acute pyelonephritis, caused by susceptible isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.
[L54511]
Known interactions with other medications. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 782 interactions
[L31818]
In humans, symptoms of overdose have included impaired hearing, vestibular loss, general decline in taste perception, and metallic taste. In the event of overdose, the patient should be managed with symptomatic and supportive measures.
[L31818]
In Escherichia coli, fosfomycin gains entry into bacterial cells via two mechanisms: the L-alpha-glycerophosphate system and the hexose-6-phosphate transporter system.[A229338]
Fosfomycin also has important effects on cell adhesion. For example, the adhesion of bacterial cells to urinary epithelial cells is reduced in the presence of fosfomycin. The adhesion of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae to respiratory epithelial cells is also reduced[A229338]
Fosfomycin also demonstrates immunomodulating properties. For example, the antibiotic may influence components of the acute inflammatory cytokine response and enhances neutrophil phagocytic destruction of pathogens.[A229338][A230343]
Fosfomycin penetrates biofilms effectively and is capable of not only reducing or eliminating microorganisms in biofilms but can also alter the biofilm structure.[A229338][A230358]
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
[A229338][A229343][A229348][L31818]
The oral bioavailability ranges from 34-58%.
[A229338]
Co-administration of fosfomycin with food decreases gastrointestinal absorption to approximately 30%.
[A229338]
The reported AUC = 145-228 mg x h/L, while the reported Cmax = 26.1 (∓9.1) mcg/mL.
[A229338][L31818]
[L31818]
[A229343][A229348]
[A229343]
Due to changes in the vascular endothelium, the Vd can be up to 50% higher in critically ill patients.
[A229343]
[A229343][A229348]
[A229343]
Factors including administration with food, impaired renal function, and older age may reduce the rate of fosfomycin elimination.
[A229338]
[A230443]
ATC S02AA17
ATC J01XX01
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)
Fosfomycin
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
11861
ChemSpider
394204
BindingDB
50024894
PDB
FCN
ZINC
ZINC000001530427
GenBank Gene Database
M92358
GenBank Protein Database
146902
UniProt Accession
MURA_ECOLI
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite the following publications:
Show earlier publications
Structured knowledge from the free knowledge base
ATC classifications (Wikidata)
Linked open data from Wikidata (Q183554), 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.