Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 11, 2026

Fotemustine

Fotemustine is a nitrosourea alkylating agent used in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. It is available in Europe but has not been approved by the United States FDA. A study has shown that fotemustine produces improved response rates but does not increase survival (over dacarbazine in the treatment of disseminated cutaneous melanoma. Median survival was 7.3 months with fotemustine versus 5.6 months with DTIC. There was also toxicity prevalence in fotemustine arm. The main toxicity was grade 3 to 4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia.

Last revised
Jun 11, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
215 w
Citations
2
Source
Fotemustine
Clinical data
Trade namesMustophoran
AHFS/Drugs.comInternational Drug Names
Pregnancy
category
  • AU: D
ATC code
Legal status
Legal status
  • AU: S4 (Prescription only)
Identifiers
  • (RS)-diethyl (1-{[(2-chloroethyl)(nitroso)carbamoyl]amino}
    ethyl)phosphonate
CAS Number
PubChem CID
DrugBank
ChemSpider
UNII
KEGG
ChEMBL
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)
ECHA InfoCard100.158.792
Chemical and physical data
FormulaC9H19ClN3O5P
Molar mass315.69 g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)
  • O=P(OCC)(OCC)C(NC(=O)N(N=O)CCCl)C
  • InChI=1S/C9H19ClN3O5P/c1-4-17-19(16,18-5-2)8(3)11-9(14)13(12-15)7-6-10/h8H,4-7H2,1-3H3,(H,11,14) checkY
  • Key:YAKWPXVTIGTRJH-UHFFFAOYSA-N checkY
 ☒NcheckY (what is this?)  (verify)

Fotemustine is a nitrosourea alkylating agent used in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. It is available in Europe but has not been approved by the United States FDA.1 A study2 has shown that fotemustine produces improved response rates but does not increase survival (over dacarbazine in the treatment of disseminated cutaneous melanoma. Median survival was 7.3 months with fotemustine versus 5.6 months with DTIC (P=.067). There was also toxicity prevalence in fotemustine arm. The main toxicity was grade 3 to 4 neutropenia (51% with fotemustine v 5% with DTIC) and thrombocytopenia (43% v 6%, respectively).

External links
  1. Menaa, Farid (2013). "Latest Approved Therapies for Metastatic Melanoma: What Comes Next?". Journal of Skin Cancer. 2013: 1–10. doi:10.1155/2013/735282. PMC 3595667. PMID 23533766.
  2. Avril MF, Aamdal S, Grob JJ, Hauschild A, Mohr P, Bonerandi JJ, Weichenthal M (March 2004). "Fotemustine Compared With Dacarbazine in Patients With Disseminated Malignant Melanoma: A Phase III Study". Journal of Clinical Oncology. 22 (6): 1118–25. doi:10.1200/JCO.2004.04.165. PMID 15020614.