# Mycophenolate mofetil

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

## TL;DR

Mycophenolate is a medicine that damps down the immune system, approved to stop transplanted organs being rejected. In cancer care it is used when immunotherapy side effects such as hepatitis or pneumonitis do not respond to steroids.

## Summary

The CellCept label covers prophylaxis of organ rejection in kidney, heart or liver transplant recipients, with other immunosuppressants. SITC 2021: if liver tests do not improve to grade 1 or better within 10 to 14 days of steroids, or hepatitis recurs on the taper, mycophenolate mofetil may be given at 1 to 2 g a day in two divided doses (LE 4); it is one option when pneumonitis does not improve within 72 hours of high-dose steroids, and for interstitial nephritis that does not respond to glucocorticoids. These uses are off-label. The NDA was first approved on 3 May 1995.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: approved
- Last checked: 2026-11-11
- Also known as: MMF; mycophenolic acid
- Tags: supportive; generic; supportive-care-gaps-2026-11
- Brand: CellCept
- Modality: Antimetabolite immunosuppressant (oral or intravenous)
- Mechanism: An antimetabolite immunosuppressant; its active form, mycophenolic acid, limits lymphocyte proliferation.
- Approvals: US 1995: Prophylaxis of organ rejection in kidney, heart or liver transplant recipients

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycophenolic_acid
- US label (DailyMed): CellCept: https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=37241e87-4af4-4dc3-a1aa-ea6f20d8dc40
- Brahmer et al., SITC clinical practice guideline on immune checkpoint inhibitor-related adverse events (J Immunother Cancer 2021): https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2021-002435

## Connected records

- drugs: [Infliximab](https://onco.cc/drugs/infliximab/)
- terms: [Immune-related adverse events (irAEs)](https://onco.cc/terms/irae/), [Pneumonitis](https://onco.cc/terms/pneumonitis/)

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