# Porfimer sodium

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

## TL;DR

Porfimer sodium is the drug half of photodynamic therapy: injected, it gathers in tumours, and a laser passed through an endoscope two days later activates it to burn away oesophageal and lung tumours that block the airway or gullet.

## Summary

Porfimer sodium was the first photodynamic therapy agent approved in the United States, in December 1995, for palliation of obstructing oesophageal cancer, followed by early and obstructing endobronchial non-small cell lung cancer in 1998 and high-grade dysplasia in Barrett's oesophagus in 2003. Treatment needs an endoscopic laser session about 40 to 50 hours after injection, and patients must avoid bright light for weeks because the drug also sits in skin. It is approved in Canada, Japan and parts of Europe for similar uses. Stent placement and thermal ablation have taken much of its role, but it remains an option where they fail.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Tags: gap-fill; chembl-universe
- Brand: Photofrin
- Modality: Photosensitiser for photodynamic therapy, intravenous then laser light
- Mechanism: A haematoporphyrin derivative that concentrates in tumour tissue; red laser light at 630 nm two days later excites it to generate singlet oxygen that destroys the cells and their blood supply.
- Approvals: US 1995: Palliation of completely or partially obstructing oesophageal cancer; later endobronchial NSCLC and Barrett's high-grade dysplasia

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porfimer_sodium
- Drugs@FDA NDA020451: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm?event=overview.process&ApplNo=020451
- Label (DailyMed): https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/search.cfm?labeltype=all&query=porfimer
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porfimer_sodium

## Connected records

- cancers: [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Oesophageal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/esophageal/)
- technologies: [Cytotoxic chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/)

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