Melphalan 200mg powder and solvent for solution for infusion vials
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Cytotoxic drugs
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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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Melphalan
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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
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Melphalan
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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.
1 branded products available
MHRA licensed products
View all licensed products for Melphalan on the MHRA register
Phelinun 200mg powder and solvent for concentrate for solution for infusion vials
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
Melphalan
Source: British National Formulary, NICE. Joint Formulary Committee. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
NICE clinical guidance(14)
Daratumumab with bortezomib, melphalan and prednisone for untreated multiple myeloma (terminated appraisal) (TA771)
Melphalan flufenamide with dexamethasone for treating relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (terminated appraisal) (TA968)
Melphalan for haematological diseases before allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplant (terminated appraisal) (TA822)
Melphalan chemosaturation with percutaneous hepatic artery perfusion and hepatic vein isolation for primary or metastatic cancer in the liver (HTG575)
Lenalidomide plus dexamethasone for multiple myeloma after 1 treatment with bortezomib (TA586)
Bortezomib and thalidomide for the first‑line treatment of multiple myeloma (TA228)
Lenalidomide plus dexamethasone for previously untreated multiple myeloma (TA587)
Daratumumab with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for untreated multiple myeloma when a stem cell transplant is unsuitable (TA917)
Treosulfan with fludarabine for malignant disease before allogeneic stem cell transplant (TA640)
Nivolumab for treating relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma (TA462)
Panobinostat for treating multiple myeloma after at least 2 previous treatments (TA380)
Daratumumab in combination for treating newly diagnosed systemic amyloid light-chain amyloidosis (TA959)
Daratumumab monotherapy for treating relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (TA783)
Pembrolizumab for treating relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma in people 3 years and over (TA967)
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
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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
0.83 hours
Mechanism
Melphalan is an alkylating agent of the bischloroethylamine type.
Food interactions
None known
Human targets
1 target
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
0 to 6 hours
Half-life
0.6 mg/k
Protein binding
50%
Volume of distribution
35.5 to 185.7 L
[L47890]
Penetration into cerebrospinal fluid is low.
[L40928]
Metabolism
[L40928,…
Elimination
5.8%
[L47890]
Clearance
250 to 325 mL/min
[L47890]
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
[L47890]
It is also indicated for the palliative treatment of multiple myeloma and for the palliation of non-resectable epithelial carcinoma of the ovary.
[L40928]
Melphalan is a component of HEPZATO KIT, a liver-directed therapy indicated for the treatment of adults with uveal melanoma with unresectable hepatic metastases affecting less than 50% of the liver and no extrahepatic disease or extrahepatic disease limited to the bone, lymph nodes, subcutaneous tissues, or lung that is amenable to resection or radiation.
[L47895]
Known interactions with other medications. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 533 interactions
[L47900]
Overdoses resulting in death have been reported with melphalan. Overdoses, including intravenous doses up to 290 mg/m2 and oral doses up to 50 mg/day for 16 days, have been reported.
Symptoms of overdose include severe nausea and vomiting, decreased consciousness, convulsions, muscular paralysis, cholinomimetic effects, mucositis, stomatitis, colitis, diarrhea, and hemorrhage of the gastrointestinal tract. Elevations in liver enzymes and veno-occlusive disease occur infrequently. Significant hyponatremia, caused by an associated inappropriate secretion of ADH syndrome, has been observed.
Nephrotoxicity and adult respiratory distress syndrome have been reported rarely. The principal toxic effect is bone marrow suppression. Melphalan is not removed from plasma via hemodialysis, and overdose is typically managed by general supportive measures, with appropriate blood transfusions and antibiotics.
[L40928][L47890]
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
Tmax was one hour in patients who received single oral doses of 0.2 mg/kg to 0.25 mg/kg of melphalan. Oral administration of melphalan with a high-fat meal may reduce melphalan exposure (AUC) by 36% to 54%.
[L40928]
Mean (± SD) Cmax and AUC0-inf were 5.8 ± 1.5 mcg/mL and 451 ± 109 mcg x min/mL, respectively, following intravenous administration of 100 mg/m2 in multiple myeloma patients.
[L47890]
[L40928]
Following intravenous administration, the terminal elimination half-life is approximately 75 minutes.
[L47890]
[L40928][L47890]
[L47890]
Penetration into cerebrospinal fluid is low.
[L40928]
[L40928][L47890]
No other melphalan metabolites have been observed in humans.
[L40928]
[L47890]
[L47890]
Proteins that transport this drug across cell membranes
PMID:10196521 PMID:10966924 PMID:12538837 PMID:17460754 PMID:20858707
Cation cellular uptake or release is driven by the electrochemical potential, i.e. membrane potential and concentration gradient .
PMID:10966924
Functions as a Na(+)- and Cl(-)-independent, bidirectional uniporter .
PMID:12538837
Implicated in monoamine neurotransmitters uptake such as dopamine, adrenaline/epinephrine, noradrenaline/norepinephrine, histamine, serotonin and tyramine, thereby supporting a role in homeostatic regulation of aminergic neurotransmission in the brain .
PMID:10196521 PMID:16581093 PMID:20858707
Transports dopaminergic neuromodulators cyclo(his-pro) and salsolinol with low efficiency .
PMID:17460754
May be involved in the uptake and disposition of cationic compounds by renal clearance from the blood flow .
PMID:10966924
May contribute to regulate the transport of cationic compounds in testis across the blood-testis-barrier (Probable). Mediates the transport of polyamine spermidine and putrescine (By similarity). Mediates the bidirectional transport of polyamine agmatine .
PMID:12538837
Also transports guanidine .
PMID:10966924
May also mediate intracellular transport of organic cations, thereby playing a role in amine metabolism and intracellular signaling (By similarity)
PMID:10049700 PMID:10574970 PMID:11557028 PMID:11564694 PMID:12117417 PMID:12225859 PMID:15769744 PMID:18262359 PMID:25998567 PMID:30867591 PMID:9751058
The heterodimer with SLC3A2 mediates the uptake of L-DOPA (By similarity). Functions as an amino acid exchanger .
PMID:11557028 PMID:12117417 PMID:12225859 PMID:30867591
May play a role in the transport of L-DOPA across the blood-brain barrier (By similarity). May act as the major transporter of tyrosine in fibroblasts (Probable).
May mediate blood-to-retina L-leucine transport across the inner blood-retinal barrier (By similarity). Can mediate the transport of thyroid hormones diiodothyronine (T2), triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) across the cell membrane .
PMID:11564694
When associated with LAPTM4B, the heterodimer formed by SLC3A2 and SLC7A5 is recruited to lysosomes to promote leucine uptake into these organelles, and thereby mediates mTORC1 activation .
PMID:25998567
Involved in the uptake of toxic methylmercury (MeHg) when administered as the L-cysteine or D,L-homocysteine complexes .
PMID:12117417
Involved in the cellular activity of small molecular weight nitrosothiols, via the stereoselective transport of L-nitrosocysteine (L-CNSO) across the membrane PMID:15769744
PMID:10863037
Acts as a major transporter for glycine, L- and D-serine in the central nervous system. At the spinal cord and brainstem regulates glycine metabolism and glycinergic inhibitory neurotransmission by providing for glycine de novo synthesis from L-serine and glycine recycling from astrocytes to glycinergic motor neurons (By similarity).
At Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapses mediates D-serine and glycine release that modulates post-synaptic activation of NMDA receptors and excitatory glutamatergic transmission (By similarity). May regulate D-serine release from mesenchymal progenitors located in developing subcutaneous adipose tissue, favoring white adipocyte over thermogenic beige adipocyte lineage commitment (By similarity)
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
Appears to function in modulating the activity of the immune system during the acute-phase reaction
ATC L01AA03
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)
Melphalan
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
9872
ChemSpider
405297
BindingDB
50025837
PDB
VUC
ZINC
ZINC000000001673
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:399
GenAtlas
ALB
GeneCards
ALB
GenBank Gene Database
V00494
GenBank Protein Database
28590
UniProt Accession
ALBU_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:8498
GenAtlas
ORM1
GeneCards
ORM1
GenBank Gene Database
X02544
GenBank Protein Database
757907
UniProt Accession
A1AG1_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:10967
GeneCards
SLC22A3
GenBank Gene Database
AJ001417
GenBank Protein Database
3581982
Guide to Pharmacology
1021
UniProt Accession
S22A3_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:11063
GenAtlas
SLC7A5
GeneCards
SLC7A5
GenBank Gene Database
AF077866
GenBank Protein Database
3639058
UniProt Accession
LAT1_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:11058
GeneCards
SLC7A10
UniProt Accession
AAA1_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
18 active patents, 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: