PROFILBARU.COM

Fomivirsen
Clinical data
AHFS/Drugs.com	Micromedex Detailed Consumer Information
Pregnancy; category	AU: B2; ;
Routes of; administration	Intravitreal injection
ATC code	S01AD08 (WHO) ;
Legal status
Legal status	Withdrawn;
Identifiers
CAS Number	160369-77-7 ;
DrugBank	DB06759 ;
ChemSpider	none;
UNII	3Z6W3S36X5;
KEGG	D02736 ;
ChEMBL	ChEMBL1201688 ;
Chemical and physical data
Formula	C204H263N63O114P20S20
Molar mass	6682.35 g·mol−1
	(what is this?) (verify)

Fomivirsen (brand name Vitravene) is an antisense antiviral drug that was used in the treatment of cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMV) in immunocompromised patients, including those with AIDS. It was administered via intraocular injection.^[1]

It was discovered at the NIH and was licensed and initially developed by Isis Pharmaceuticals, which subsequently licensed it to Novartis.^[2] It was licensed by the FDA for CMV in Aug 1998, and was the first antisense drug that was approved.^[3]

Novartis withdrew the marketing authorization in the EU in 2002^[4] and in the US in 2006.^[5] The drug was withdrawn because while there was a high unmet need for drugs to treat CMV when the drug was initially discovered and developed due to the CMV arising in people with AIDS, the development of HAART dramatically reduced the number of cases of CMV.^[2]

It is an antisense oligonucleotide -- a synthetic 21 member oligonucleotide with phosphorothioate linkages (which are resistant to degradation by nucleases) and has the sequence:

5'-GCG TTT GCT CTT CTT CTT GCG-3'

^[6] It blocks translation of viral mRNA by binding to the complementary sequence of the mRNA transcribed from the template segment of a key CMV gene UL123, which encodes the CMV protein IE2. It was the first antisense antiviral approved by the FDA.^[7]