EMA starts review on screening patients before treatment with fluorouracil-containing meds

15 March 2019

The European Medicines agency has started a review of medicines containing fluorouracil (also known as 5-fluorouracil or 5-FU) and the related medicines capecitabine, tegafur and flucytosine, which are converted to fluorouracil in the body. The review will examine existing screening methods and their value in identifying patients at increased risk of severe side effects.

Fluorouracil (given by injection), capecitabine and tegafur are cancer medicines, whereas topical (applied to the skin) fluorouracil is used for various skin conditions and flucytosine is a medicine used in severe fungal infections.

Although generics are available, capecitabine is the active ingredient of Roche (ROG: SIX) affiliate Genentech’s Xeloda. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) UFT is a combination of tegafur and uracil.

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