Methyl 5-Aminolevulinate · Metvixia

What is Methyl 5-Aminolevulinate?

Methyl 5-aminolevulinate is a topical prodrug that is metabolically converted to photoactive porphyrins, which accumulate in skin lesions. Upon red light illumination these porphyrins generate singlet oxygen, causing oxygen-dependent cytotoxicity in photodynamic therapy. It is studied in basal cell carcinoma and actinic keratosis.

Summary written with AI from the sources listed at the end of this page.

At a glance

Also known as

Metvixia, methyl-aminolevulinate

Drug type

Small molecule

Mechanism

Cytotoxic

Pathways

porphyrin biosynthesis, singlet oxygen generation, photodynamic cytotoxicity

Therapy area

Oncology

Developer

Galderma Labs Lp

In trials of

BFRI

FDA status

Approved as Metvixia (July 27, 2004), NDA021415 · FDA label

UNII

585NM85KYM

🧪 Clinical trials

Trials of the companies BioRadar tracks, from ClinicalTrials.gov, most advanced phase first.

Conditions studied

Actinic KeratosisBasal Cell Carcinoma (BCC)

Sources

• FDA label (DailyMed)
• FDA label Metvixia (2013-06-21), indications
• NCI Thesaurus
• ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02144077
• ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02799069

Updated Oct 11, 2026.