# Cinacalcet

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

## TL;DR

Cinacalcet is a tablet that quiets overactive parathyroid tissue, approved in 2004 and labelled for the dangerous high calcium levels of parathyroid carcinoma, a rare cancer where surgery often cannot remove all the hormone-producing tissue.

## Summary

Cinacalcet, developed by NPS and Amgen, was approved by the FDA in March 2004 for secondary hyperparathyroidism in dialysis patients and for hypercalcaemia in patients with parathyroid carcinoma, the only drug with that oncology indication. In an open-label study of 29 patients with inoperable parathyroid carcinoma, it lowered serum calcium by at least 1 mg/dL in about two-thirds, controlling the hypercalcaemia that is the main cause of death in the disease. Nausea and vomiting are the common side effects. It is also approved for primary hyperparathyroidism in patients who cannot have surgery.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Tags: gap-fill; chembl-universe
- Brand: Sensipar / Mimpara
- Modality: Oral small-molecule calcimimetic
- Mechanism: Increases the sensitivity of the calcium-sensing receptor on parathyroid cells so they release less parathyroid hormone at any given blood calcium.
- Approvals: US 2004: Hypercalcaemia in patients with parathyroid carcinoma; secondary hyperparathyroidism on dialysis; primary hyperparathyroidism when surgery is not possible

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinacalcet
- Drugs@FDA NDA021688: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm?event=overview.process&ApplNo=021688
- Label (DailyMed): https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/search.cfm?labeltype=all&query=cinacalcet
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinacalcet

## Connected records

- cancers: [Parathyroid carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/parathyroid-carcinoma/)
- companies: [Amgen](https://onco.cc/companies/amgen/)

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