Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 22, 2026

Porfimer sodium

Porfimer sodium, sold as Photofrin, is a photosensitizer used in photodynamic therapy and radiation therapy and for palliative treatment of obstructing endobronchial non-small cell lung carcinoma and obstructing esophageal cancer.

Last revised
Jul 22, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
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Citations
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Source
Porfimer sodium
Clinical data
Trade namesPhotofrin
AHFS/Drugs.comConsumer Drug Information
License data
Routes of
administration
Intravenous
ATC code
Legal status
Legal status
Pharmacokinetic data
BioavailabilityNA
Protein binding~90%
Elimination half-life21.5 days (mean)
ExcretionFecal
Identifiers
CAS Number
PubChem CID
DrugBank
ChemSpider
UNII
ChEMBL
Chemical and physical data
FormulaC68H74N8O11 (for n=0)
Molar mass1179.36 g/mol (for n=0) g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)
  • [Na+].CC(O)C1=C(C)C=2C=C5NC(=CC4=NC(=CC=3NC(C=C1N=2)=C(C)C=3CCC(O)=O)C(CCC(O)=O)=C4C)C(C)=C5C(C)OC(C)C6=C(C)C=7C=C%10NC(=CC9=NC(=CC=8NC(C=C6N=7)=C(C)C=8CCC(O)=O)C(CCC(O)=O)=C9C)C(C)=C%10C(C)O
  • InChI=1S/C68H74N8O11.Na/c1-29-41(13-17-61(79)80)53-28-56-44(16-20-64(85)86)32(4)48(72-56)24-59-68(36(8)52(76-59)25-58-65(37(9)77)33(5)49(73-58)21-45(29)69-53)40(12)87-39(11)67-35(7)50-22-46-30(2)42(14-18-62(81)82)54(70-46)27-55-43(15-19-63(83)84)31(3)47(71-55)23-57-66(38(10)78)34(6)51(74-57)26-60(67)75-50;/h21-28,37-40,71-73,75,77-78H,13-20H2,1-12H3,(H,79,80)(H,81,82)(H,83,84)(H,85,86);/q;+1/b45-21-,46-22-,47-23-,48-24-,49-21-,50-22-,51-26-,52-25-,53-28-,54-27-,55-27-,56-28-,57-23-,58-25-,59-24-,60-26-; checkY
  • Key:CGQHMICGJYKFFJ-ZLJVSRBASA-N checkY
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Porfimer sodium, sold as Photofrin, is a photosensitizer used in photodynamic therapy and radiation therapy and for palliative treatment of obstructing endobronchial non-small cell lung carcinoma and obstructing esophageal cancer.

Porfimer is a mixture of oligomers formed by ether and ester linkages of up to eight porphyrin units.1 In practice, a red light source emitting at 630 nm is used to excite the Porfimer oligomers.2

Porfimer is Haematoporphyrin Derivative (HpD) (See PDT).

Approvals and indications

It was approved in Canada in 1993 for the treatment of bladder cancer.2 It was approved in Japan in 1994 (for early stage lung cancer?).2 It was approved by the U.S. FDA in December 1995 for esophageal cancer, and in 1998, it was approved for the treatment of early non-small cell lung cancer.2

In August 2003 the FDA approved its use for Barrett's esophagus.3

References

References

  1. "Porfimer injection Prescribing information" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 16, 2012.
  2. Usuda J, Kato H, Okunaka T, Furukawa K, Tsutsui H, Yamada K, et al. (June 2006). "Photodynamic therapy (PDT) for lung cancers". Journal of Thoracic Oncology. 1 (5): 489–93. doi:10.1016/S1556-0864(15)31616-6. PMID 17409904.
  3. "FDA Patient Safety News: Show #20, October 2003". October 2003. Archived from the original on October 19, 2010. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
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