# Nimorazole

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

## TL;DR

Nimorazole is the one hypoxic radiosensitiser in routine use: given with radiotherapy for head and neck cancer in Denmark since the DAHANCA 5 trial improved control, and tested across Europe in patients whose tumours carry a hypoxia gene signature.

## Summary

Nimorazole was developed as an anti-infective and repurposed as a hypoxic cell radiosensitiser because it is far better tolerated than the earlier nitroimidazoles misonidazole and etanidazole. DAHANCA 5 showed higher locoregional control with nimorazole than placebo during radiotherapy for supraglottic and pharyngeal cancer, and Danish practice has included it ever since; a later analysis found the benefit confined to tumours with a 15-gene hypoxia signature. The EORTC 1219 and DAHANCA 29 trials tested it with accelerated chemoradiation in the wider European population and in hypoxia-selected patients. It has no oncology marketing authorisation outside Denmark and is used under national guidance.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-16
- Also known as: Naxogin
- Tags: radiation-wave3
- Modality: Hypoxic cell radiosensitiser (nitroimidazole small molecule)
- Mechanism: A nitroimidazole that mimics oxygen in hypoxic tumour cells, fixing radiation-induced DNA damage that would otherwise be repaired, so the oxygen-starved cells that normally survive radiotherapy are killed.

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimorazole
- ClinicalTrials.gov: trials of nimorazole: https://clinicaltrials.gov/search?intr=nimorazole

## Connected records

- cancers: [Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/head-and-neck/)
- technologies: [Radiosensitisers](https://onco.cc/technologies/radiosensitisers/), [Tumour hypoxia: imaging and modification](https://onco.cc/technologies/tumour-hypoxia-modification/)
- trials: [DAHANCA 5](https://onco.cc/trials/dahanca-5/)

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