# Etomoxir

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

## TL;DR

Etomoxir is an older drug, first tested for heart failure, that Numiera Therapeutics is developing to starve glioblastoma cells of the fats they burn for energy. It has an FDA orphan designation for malignant glioma.

## Summary

Etomoxir was developed as a CPT1 inhibitor and tested in congestive heart failure, where a phase 2 trial was stopped after raised liver enzymes in 4 of 226 patients, according to the developer's history of the drug. Numiera Therapeutics is repurposing it for malignant glioma, including glioblastoma, on the basis that glioblastoma cells rely on fatty acid oxidation. The FDA granted orphan designation for the treatment of malignant glioma on 12 November 2024. The evidence in glioma is preclinical, from cell and mouse models; no cancer trial results have been published.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: preclinical
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Tags: pipeline
- Modality: Oral small-molecule CPT1 inhibitor
- Mechanism: Inhibits carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT1), the transporter that moves fatty acids into mitochondria, so cancer cells that depend on fatty acid oxidation lose an energy source.

## Sources

- FDA orphan designation record: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/opdlisting/oopd/detailedIndex.cfm?cfgridkey=1044424
- Numiera Therapeutics: etomoxir: https://www.numiera.com/etomoxir

## Connected records

- cancers: [Glioma & glioblastoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/glioblastoma/)
- technologies: [Metabolic therapy: starving the tumour of a nutrient](https://onco.cc/technologies/metabolic-therapy/)
- companies: [Numiera Therapeutics](https://onco.cc/companies/numiera-therapeutics/)

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