# Plitidepsin

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

## TL;DR

Plitidepsin is a chemotherapy derived from a Mediterranean sea squirt, approved in Australia in 2018 with dexamethasone for multiple myeloma after several other treatments; the European regulator refused it, and it drew attention in 2021 as a possible COVID-19 antiviral.

## Summary

PharmaMar isolated plitidepsin from the tunicate Aplidium albicans. In the phase 3 ADMYRE trial in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, plitidepsin with dexamethasone improved progression-free survival over dexamethasone alone by about a month, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration approved it in Australia in December 2018 for patients who had received at least three prior regimens including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulator. The European Medicines Agency refused marketing authorisation in 2018, judging the benefit too small against the toxicity, and the FDA never approved it. Its inhibition of eEF1A2 also blocks SARS-CoV-2 replication in cells, which led to COVID-19 trials.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Also known as: Dehydrodidemnin B
- Tags: gap-fill; chembl-universe
- Brand: Aplidin
- Modality: Marine-derived cyclic depsipeptide (small molecule), intravenous
- Mechanism: Binds the translation elongation factor eEF1A2, triggering oxidative stress and rapid apoptosis in myeloma cells.

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plitidepsin
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plitidepsin
- ChEMBL CHEMBL505124: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/chembl/explore/compound/CHEMBL505124

## Connected records

- cancers: [Multiple myeloma](https://onco.cc/cancers/multiple-myeloma/)
- technologies: [Cytotoxic chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/)
- targets: [Elongation factor 2 (EEF2)](https://onco.cc/targets/eef2/)
- drugs: [Dexamethasone](https://onco.cc/drugs/dexamethasone/)

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