# Vorinostat

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

## TL;DR

Vorinostat (Zolinza) was the first drug of its kind, a capsule that loosens the chemical packaging of DNA. It treats the skin disease of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma after two other treatments have failed.

## Summary

Vorinostat was approved by the FDA in October 2006 for cutaneous manifestations of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma in patients with progressive, persistent or recurrent disease on or after two systemic therapies, on two open-label studies (response rate about 30% in the pivotal single-arm study of 74 patients). It was the first histone deacetylase inhibitor approved for any cancer and remains a standard option in refractory mycosis fungoides and Sezary syndrome; a European application was withdrawn and it is not authorised in the EU. Fatigue, diarrhoea, thrombocytopenia, taste change and QT prolongation are the main adverse effects; thromboembolism is a class warning.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: approved
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Also known as: SAHA; Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid
- Tags: nci-list
- Brand: Zolinza
- Modality: Small-molecule pan-HDAC inhibitor (hydroxamate)
- Mechanism: Inhibits class I (HDAC1, 2, 3) and class II (HDAC6) histone deacetylases at nanomolar concentrations, causing histone hyperacetylation, re-expression of silenced genes, cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis.
- Approvals: US 2006: Cutaneous manifestations of CTCL with progressive, persistent or recurrent disease after two systemic therapies

## Notes

- Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma has no cancer record yet.

## Sources

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

## Connected records

- drugs: [Bexarotene](https://onco.cc/drugs/bexarotene/), [Romidepsin](https://onco.cc/drugs/romidepsin/)
- technologies: [Epigenetic drugs (HDAC, DNMT, EZH2, IDH, menin, BET)](https://onco.cc/technologies/epigenetic-drugs/)
- targets: [Histone deacetylases (HDAC)](https://onco.cc/targets/hdac/)
- companies: [Merck & Co. (MSD)](https://onco.cc/companies/merck/)
- cancers: [Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (mycosis fungoides and Sezary syndrome)](https://onco.cc/cancers/cutaneous-t-cell-lymphoma/), [Mycosis fungoides](https://onco.cc/cancers/mycosis-fungoides/), [Sezary syndrome](https://onco.cc/cancers/sezary-syndrome/)
- key papers: [MAVORIC: mogamulizumab versus vorinostat in previously treated cutaneous T-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-mavoric-mogamulizumab-lancet-oncol-2018/)
- roadmaps: [Epigenetic therapy roadmap: loosening silenced genes → mutation-specific enzymes → editing the epigenome](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/epigenetics-roadmap/)
- trials: [MAVORIC](https://onco.cc/trials/mavoric/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/vorinostat.json