{"entity":{"id":"hydroxyurea","kind":"drug","name":"Hydroxyurea (hydroxycarbamide)","aka":[],"tldr":"Hydroxyurea is a cheap, decades-old pill that lowers high blood counts in polycythaemia vera and essential thrombocythaemia and is also the main drug for sickle cell disease.","summary":"First-line cytoreduction in high-risk PV and ET (reduces thrombosis; PT-1 trial superior to anagrelide in ET). Historic role in CML before imatinib. Also used in sickle cell disease and, less often, for leukocytosis in acute leukaemia. Concerns: leg ulcers, skin cancers, questionable leukaemogenicity.","status":"approved","asOf":"2026-09-08","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxycarbamide","links":[{"label":"Label (DailyMed)","url":"https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/search.cfm?labeltype=all&query=hydroxyurea"}],"tags":["gap-fill","generic"],"related":[],"cancers":["myeloproliferative-neoplasms","cml","polycythaemia-vera","essential-thrombocythaemia"],"sections":[],"technologies":["cytotoxic-chemotherapy"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":["bms"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"brand":"Hydrea / Droxia / Siklos","modality":"Oral ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor (cytoreductive)","mechanism":"Inhibits ribonucleotide reductase, depleting deoxyribonucleotides and arresting S-phase; lowers blood counts in myeloproliferative disease.","approvals":[{"region":"US","year":1967,"indication":"CML, head and neck cancer with radiotherapy, melanoma, ovarian cancer (historic labelling)"},{"region":"US","year":1998,"indication":"Sickle cell anaemia (Droxia)"}],"mechanismSteps":[],"toxicity":[],"access":[],"regulatoryEvents":[]},"route":"/drugs/hydroxyurea/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"aml-older-unfit","kind":"cancer","name":"Acute myeloid leukaemia in older or unfit patients","route":"/cancers/aml-older-unfit/"},{"id":"cml","kind":"cancer","name":"Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML)","route":"/cancers/cml/"},{"id":"cmml","kind":"cancer","name":"Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia and MDS/MPN overlap neoplasms","route":"/cancers/cmml/"},{"id":"essential-thrombocythaemia","kind":"cancer","name":"Essential thrombocythaemia (ET)","route":"/cancers/essential-thrombocythaemia/"},{"id":"myeloproliferative-neoplasms","kind":"cancer","name":"Myeloproliferative neoplasms (PV, ET, myelofibrosis)","route":"/cancers/myeloproliferative-neoplasms/"},{"id":"polycythaemia-vera","kind":"cancer","name":"Polycythaemia vera (PV)","route":"/cancers/polycythaemia-vera/"},{"id":"primary-myelofibrosis","kind":"cancer","name":"Primary myelofibrosis","route":"/cancers/primary-myelofibrosis/"}],"technology":[{"id":"cytotoxic-chemotherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Cytotoxic chemotherapy","route":"/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/"}],"company":[{"id":"bms","kind":"company","name":"Bristol Myers Squibb","route":"/companies/bms/"}],"target":[{"id":"rrm1","kind":"target","name":"Ribonucleotide reductase (RRM1)","route":"/targets/rrm1/"}],"drug":[{"id":"anagrelide","kind":"drug","name":"Anagrelide","route":"/drugs/anagrelide/"},{"id":"mitobronitol","kind":"drug","name":"Mitobronitol","route":"/drugs/mitobronitol/"},{"id":"phosphorus-32","kind":"drug","name":"Phosphorus-32 (radiophosphorus)","route":"/drugs/phosphorus-32/"},{"id":"pipobroman","kind":"drug","name":"Pipobroman","route":"/drugs/pipobroman/"}],"trial":[{"id":"nct01387763","kind":"trial","name":"A Study of Low Dose Interferon Alpha Versus Hydroxyurea in Treatment of Chronic Myeloid Neoplasms","route":"/trials/nct01387763/"},{"id":"cyto-pv","kind":"trial","name":"CYTO-PV","route":"/trials/cyto-pv/"},{"id":"proud-pv","kind":"trial","name":"PROUD-PV and CONTINUATION-PV","route":"/trials/proud-pv/"},{"id":"pt-1","kind":"trial","name":"PT-1 (Primary Thrombocythaemia 1)","route":"/trials/pt-1/"}],"term":[{"id":"ipset-thrombosis","kind":"term","name":"IPSET-thrombosis score (essential thrombocythaemia)","route":"/terms/ipset-thrombosis/"},{"id":"mpn-driver-mutations","kind":"term","name":"MPN driver mutations (JAK2 V617F, CALR, MPL) and allele burden","route":"/terms/mpn-driver-mutations/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"dna-replication-licensing","kind":"pathway","name":"DNA replication & origin licensing","route":"/pathways/dna-replication-licensing/"}]}}