# Mesna

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/mesna/  
OnCo record `mesna` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Mesna is given with the chemotherapy ifosfamide (and high-dose cyclophosphamide) to stop its breakdown products from burning the bladder lining and causing bleeding.

## Summary

Mesna was approved in December 1988 as a prophylactic agent to reduce the incidence of ifosfamide-induced haemorrhagic cystitis, with oral tablets approved in 2002 allowing intravenous-then-oral schedules; it is given with every ifosfamide dose (sarcoma, germ cell, lymphoma regimens such as ICE and VeIP) and with high-dose cyclophosphamide in transplant conditioning. The label notes it does not prevent haematuria from other causes such as thrombocytopenia. Hypersensitivity reactions, including rare severe skin reactions, and false-positive urine ketone tests are the practical issues; nausea and headache are common.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: approved
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Also known as: Uromitexan; Sodium 2-mercaptoethanesulfonate
- Tags: nci-list; supportive; generic
- Brand: Mesnex
- Modality: Uroprotective thiol
- Mechanism: Free thiol excreted in urine that binds and detoxifies acrolein and 4-hydroxy-ifosfamide, the urotoxic metabolites of ifosfamide and cyclophosphamide, in the bladder.
- Approvals: US 1988: Prophylaxis of ifosfamide-induced haemorrhagic cystitis (oral tablets 2002)

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesna
- US label (DailyMed): https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/search.cfm?labeltype=all&query=mesna
- NCI drug page: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/drugs/mesna

## Connected records

- drugs: [Cyclophosphamide](https://onco.cc/drugs/cyclophosphamide/), [Ifosfamide](https://onco.cc/drugs/ifosfamide/)
- companies: [Baxter International](https://onco.cc/companies/baxter/)
- trials: [A FIH, Phase I/IIa, Trial Assessing Feasibility of Administrations of TIL-based Immunotherapy in Patients With Metastatic CRC and PC](https://onco.cc/trials/nct07255664/), [IDP-023 as a Single Agent and in Combination With Antibody Therapies in Patients With Advanced Hematologic Cancers](https://onco.cc/trials/nct06119685/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/mesna.json