Drug Safety Information for PURINETHOL (Mercaptopurine)

Safety-related Labeling Changes for PURINETHOL (MERCAPTOPURINE) Rx Drug: FDA Link

Safety-related Labeling Changes for PURIXAN (MERCAPTOPURINE) Rx Drug: FDA Link

Adverse Drug Reactions for PURINETHOL* (Mercaptopurine)

These charts and graphs are based on reports received through the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) program (see below).

Top 20 Adverse Effects Associated with PURINETHOL
(reported in FDA Medwatch/FAERS Reports)

  Side Effect # of FDA Reports
1Pyrexia357
2Crohn's disease347
3Diarrhoea277
4Nausea*277
5Abdominal pain254
6Headache*252
7Febrile neutropenia240
8Drug ineffective240
9Vomiting234
10Fatigue*227
11Injection site pain219
12Neutropenia155
13Arthralgia*144
14Rash*139
15Dyspnoea139
16Sepsis137
17Pancytopenia128
18Pain126
19Asthenia123
20Anaemia118

* This side effect also appears in "Top 10 Side Effects of PURINETHOL " in the drug's Review Summary based on AskaPatient reviews.

Top 10 Reasons for Taking PURINETHOL
(associated with FDA Medwatch/FAERS Reports)

Reason # of FDA Reports
1Crohn's disease*4414
2Product used for unknown indication2846
3Acute lymphocytic leukaemia1762
4Colitis ulcerative*1042
5Acute promyelocytic leukaemia222
6T-cell type acute leukaemia200
7Lymphocytic leukaemia179
8Precursor t-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukaemia164
9Chemotherapy155
10B precursor type acute leukaemia152

*Also a top-10 reason in AskaPatient Review Summary.


Types of Adverse Events for PURINETHOL

Total Reports Filed with FDA: 22644


Number of FDA Adverse Event Reports by Patient Age for PURINETHOL

Total Reports Filed with FDA: 22644*


* Reports for drugs with the same active ingredients have been aggregated in this analysis: Mercaptopurine (Purixan, Puri-nethol, Purinethol, Mercaptopurine)

Charts are based on 22644 reports filed with the FDA between 2004 and June 2015.

Adverse Event Reports are submitted to the FDA by pharmaceutical companies (mandatory reporting is required by manufacturers, distributors, or importers), health care providers such as doctors (voluntary reporting), and by patients themselves (voluntary reporting). More Information on FDA MedWatch (FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program)Voluntary reporting takes place under the FDA's MedWatch program, where health care professionals and consumers submit reports to FDA when they find a problem with a drug, medical device, biologic, or other FDA-regulated product. An adverse event is any undesirable experience or extreme side effect associated with the use of a medical product. Adverse events include: death, life threatening event, hospitalization, disability or permanent damage, congenital anomaly or birth defect, medical product use requiring a surgical or other intervention, or other serious medical situation believed to be caused by the drug.

Click to go back to search results and PURINETHOL Reviews and Review Summary .

Historical Analytics of FDA Adverse Event Reports Provided by Druginformer.com. FDA Drug Safety Information, including safety-related labeling updates, required post-approval safety studies, risk evaluation management strategies (REMS), alerts, and recalls are compiled by AskaPatient.com from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.