Uridine Triacetate
Uridine triacetate is an oral medication used to treat a life-threatening overdose or severe early toxicity from certain chemotherapy drugs, and to treat a rare genetic disorder called hereditary orotic aciduria.
🧬 Where this information comes from Click to expand
The clinical label records used on this page are FDA-filed Structured Product Labeling (SPL) retrieved through openFDA. We identified 2 clinical label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, strengths, and NDC product-record counts are built separately from matching FDA National Drug Code Directory records. The linked DailyMed document is a representative official source for verification, not the page’s only clinical source. View the linked label on DailyMed →
📖 Uridine Triacetate: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Uridine Triacetate — what it treats, how it works, how it’s taken, side effects, warnings and interactions. Tap any section to expand it.
🎯What it's used for▾
Uridine triacetate is the active ingredient in two distinct FDA-approved products used for different medical situations.
- Vistogard is approved for emergency treatment of adults and children who have had an overdose of the chemotherapy drugs fluorouracil or capecitabine — regardless of whether symptoms are present — or who develop severe, early, or life-threatening toxicity (such as heart or central nervous system problems, severe digestive side effects, or dangerously low white blood cell counts) within 96 hours of their last chemotherapy dose.
- Xuriden is approved for adults and children to treat hereditary orotic aciduria, a rare inherited metabolic disorder in which the body cannot produce enough uridine, leading to a buildup of orotic acid and widespread effects on cell function and blood production.
⚙️How it works▾
Uridine triacetate is a prodrug — meaning it converts into its active form (uridine) after you swallow it. Natural enzymes throughout the body break it down quickly, releasing uridine into the bloodstream. In the case of Vistogard, that flood of uridine competes directly with the toxic byproducts of fluorouracil for incorporation into RNA, reducing the damage those byproducts cause to normal cells. Fluorouracil harms cells by blocking DNA repair and inserting damaging molecules into RNA; extra uridine essentially crowds out those harmful molecules. For Xuriden, the released uridine compensates for what the body cannot make due to a genetic defect in an enzyme called uridine monophosphate synthase (UMPS). When uridine levels are restored, the overproduction of orotic acid is also reduced through a natural feedback process.
💊How it's taken▾
Dosing is very different between the two products and must not be confused. Vistogard is taken every 6 hours for a total of 20 doses, without regard to meals — timing and completing the full course are critical in this emergency setting. Xuriden is taken once daily with food, with the dose based on body weight; the dose may be adjusted by a doctor if the condition is not adequately controlled.
- Both are oral granule powders mixed into soft foods such as applesauce, pudding, or yogurt before swallowing — never chew the granules.
- Vistogard doses should be taken within 30 minutes of mixing and followed by at least 4 ounces of water.
- If a Vistogard dose is vomited within 2 hours, repeat that dose as soon as possible, then resume the regular schedule.
- Discard any unused granules from an opened packet for either product.
🤒Side effects — in detail▾
Uridine triacetate is generally well tolerated. The most commonly reported side effects from Vistogard clinical studies were:
- Vomiting (reported in about 10% of patients)
- Nausea (about 5%)
- Diarrhea (about 3%)
Serious side effects were rare — in clinical studies, grade 3 nausea and vomiting occurred in only one patient. If vomiting is severe or persistent and interferes with completing the full course of Vistogard, contact your medical team right away, as finishing treatment is important.
⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
- Vistogard is for emergencies only — it should not be used for routine or non-urgent management of fluorouracil or capecitabine side effects, because doing so can reduce how well those chemotherapy drugs fight cancer.
- Timing matters with Vistogard — safety and effectiveness have only been established when treatment is started within 96 hours of the last fluorouracil or capecitabine dose. Starting later is not supported by current evidence.
- There are no absolute contraindications (reasons someone must not take it) listed for either product.
🔀What it interacts with▾
There are limited known drug interactions, but one area of caution exists based on laboratory data.
- P-glycoprotein substrate drugs (e.g., digoxin): In lab studies, uridine triacetate inhibited P-glycoprotein, a protein that helps move certain drugs across cell membranes. This could potentially affect how much of a co-administered oral P-gp substrate drug is absorbed from the gut. Human data are not yet available, so tell your doctor about all medications you take.
- Fluorouracil and capecitabine: Uridine triacetate is specifically designed to counteract these drugs' effects on normal cells — so using Vistogard outside an emergency context can reduce their cancer-fighting activity.
This is not a complete list of interactions. Always talk with your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping, or changing any medication.
📋Before taking it▾
- Pregnancy: Human safety data are very limited. Animal studies did not show harm to the fetus, but this cannot be assumed to apply in humans. Discuss with your doctor before using either product if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant.
- Breastfeeding: It is not known whether uridine triacetate passes into breast milk or what effects it might have on a breastfed infant. Your doctor will weigh the benefits and risks with you.
- Children: Both Vistogard and Xuriden are approved for pediatric use, including in young children and infants. Pediatric dosing is weight-based or body-surface-area-based and should be calculated by your care team.
- Older adults: About 30% of patients in Vistogard studies were 65 or older. Numbers were not large enough to determine if older adults respond differently, so standard monitoring applies.
- P-glycoprotein substrate drugs: Tell your prescriber if you take digoxin or any other medication flagged as a P-glycoprotein substrate.
📡Pharmacodynamics — effects in the body▾
In hereditary orotic aciduria, a defective enzyme (uridine monophosphate synthase, or UMPS) blocks the body's ability to make uridine nucleotides — the building blocks cells need — and causes orotic acid to accumulate and spill into the urine, where it can form crystals and block the urinary tract. Xuriden delivers uridine directly into the bloodstream, where cells throughout the body can use it to restore normal nucleotide levels. Once those levels normalize, the body's own feedback system reduces overproduction of orotic acid, so less of it is excreted in the urine.
🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾
After swallowing uridine triacetate granules, the body's natural enzymes rapidly convert it into uridine, which then circulates in the blood. Following oral Xuriden, uridine levels in the blood typically peak within 2 to 3 hours, and the half-life (the time it takes for half the drug to be cleared) is roughly 2 to 2.5 hours. Xuriden delivers approximately 4 to 6 times more uridine into the bloodstream than an equivalent amount of plain uridine taken by mouth, making it a much more efficient way to raise uridine levels. Uridine is distributed into cells throughout the body via specialized transporters, crosses into the brain, and is cleared through the kidneys or broken down by normal metabolic pathways in body tissues. Food does not meaningfully change how much uridine reaches the bloodstream from uridine triacetate granules.
📦How to store it▾
Store at USP controlled room temperature, 25°C (77°F); excursions permitted to 15° to 30 °C (59° to 86°F).
📄 Written from Uridine Triacetate’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Every point is grounded in that labeling — nothing is invented. How we use AI →
Supplements & herbs that interact with Uridine Triacetate
17 supplements and herbal products have documented interactions with Uridine Triacetate in the licensed clinical database we use. Most are manageable — but your pharmacist should know about everything you take, including vitamins and herbals.
- Major · 1
- Moderate · 7
- Minor · 9
Educational information from a licensed clinical database (Natural Medicines) — see our data sources & update cadence. Not medical advice: an interaction being documented does not mean it will happen to you; do not start or stop medications or supplements without professional guidance.
🩺 Pharmacist Counseling Corner
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Uridine Triacetate — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What exactly is Vistogard and why would I need it urgently? ▾
What is Xuriden used for, and is it the same as Vistogard? ▾
How do I take these granules? They look unusual. ▾
What side effects should I watch for, and when should I call for help? ▾
I'm pregnant. Is it safe to take uridine triacetate? ▾
Can Vistogard interfere with my other medications? ▾
Is Uridine Triacetate available over the counter? ▾
When was Uridine Triacetate first available? ▾
Who makes Uridine Triacetate? ▾
💬 Answers drafted from Uridine Triacetate’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Grounded in that labeling — nothing is made up. How we use AI →
🧰 Keep exploring
💊 How Uridine Triacetate comes
Uridine Triacetate is available in 1 form. Different forms and brands can have different approved uses, doses, schedules, and directions. Follow the instructions for your exact product, and do not switch forms without guidance from your prescriber or pharmacist.
Oral powder
How this form is used
- Vistogard is used for emergency treatment of adults and children after a fluorouracil or capecitabine overdose, or with severe early toxicity from those drugs within 96 hours
- Xuriden is used to treat hereditary orotic aciduria in adults and children by replacing uridine the body cannot produce
- Vistogard granules should be mixed into 3–4 ounces of soft food (applesauce, pudding, or yogurt) and swallowed within 30 minutes; do not chew the granules; drink at least 4 ounces of water after each dose
- Vistogard can be given through a nasogastric (NG) tube or gastrostomy (G-tube) when a patient cannot swallow due to severe mucositis or unconsciousness
- Xuriden granules should be mixed into soft food (applesauce, pudding, or yogurt) or, for smaller doses, into milk or infant formula; take with food once daily and do not chew the granules
- For both products, measure the dose carefully using a scale or graduated teaspoon, and discard any unused granules from an opened packet — do not save them for later
📊 Uridine Triacetate across the U.S. market
How Uridine Triacetate appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
Also listed with the FDA, not a patient dose form: Powder (1) — bulk drug substance sold to compounders/manufacturers and multi-item kits. These aren’t counted in the dose-form total above.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
🔍 Compare Uridine Triacetate products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Uridine Triacetate — across manufacturers, strengths, and dosage forms, grouped by form with each product’s manufacturer and how the FDA approved it. The same medicine may be made and packaged by different companies, so a single drug can have many directory entries. (It’s also why a refill can look different — a new shape, color, or box — even though it contains the same medication.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Oral powder | ||||
| 951 mg/g | Oral | BTG International Inc × 2 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 951 mg/g | Oral | Wellstat Therapeutics Corporation × 2 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 💊Bulk drug substance | ||||
| 1 kg/kg | — | Metrochem API Private Limited | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
Showing 5 of 5 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 5 Uridine Triacetate NDCs →
📈 What people report — real-world data (FDA FAERS)
After a medicine reaches the market, patients, doctors and drugmakers can send the FDA reports of problems they think may be linked to it. Here’s what’s been reported for Uridine Triacetate — a signal of what to watch for, not proof the drug caused it.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). These are voluntary reports — they don’t prove the drug caused the effect, and counts reflect how often something was reported, not how often it actually happens. Reports also often name the very problem the medicine is taken for — a common reason to file one is that the drug didn’t help — so for a pain reliever you may see “pain” high on the list; that points to why the report was filed, not to the drug causing the symptom. This counts every report that lists Uridine Triacetate in any role, so the total runs higher than the FDA’s official dashboard, which counts only cases where the drug is the suspect. For the authoritative figures, see the FDA FAERS Public Dashboard. Always talk to your pharmacist or doctor.
🏛️ The road to your pharmacy
How Uridine Triacetate went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
🚨 Recall history
A recall is when a specific batch of a medicine is pulled from the market — usually a manufacturing issue, not a problem with the drug itself. Class I is most serious, Class III least.
Source: openFDA drug enforcement (recall) reports.
RxNorm Concept Web — From Ingredient to Every Form and Strength
This page starts with one ingredient concept (IN). The branches below show its dose-form concepts (SCDF), then the available clinical drug and strength concepts (SCD). Combination products remain separate concepts with their own pages.
RxCUI 1665222 1 dose form · 2 strengths
-
Dose form (SCDF) Oral Granules RxCUI 1665466In current FDA listings
Look up RxCUI 1665222 in the RxCUI Atlas →
RxNorm is the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s normalized drug vocabulary. Its concept hierarchy can include forms that are not currently marketed; the status on each branch compares that concept with current FDA listings. RxCUIs identify vocabulary concepts, not individual packages or manufacturers.
📦 Supply & shortage status
Whether Uridine Triacetate is in short supply in the U.S. right now, plus any shortage history the FDA has on record. A shortage usually reflects a manufacturing or demand issue — not a safety problem with the drug.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Drug Shortages database.
🏷️ Sold under these brand names
🏭 Manufacturers & labelers
RxNorm drug class
Uridine Triacetate belongs to the Various alimentary tract and metabolism products class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
🔬 Where this comes from
Core label, product, RxNorm, safety, and utilization data on this page come from the sources identified below. AI-written, editorial, and licensed sections are labeled separately.
How we combine label and product data
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records; we don’t author the underlying clinical facts. We identified 2 FDA-filed SPL label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. The representative label is the starting point for the displayed reference monograph; the 12 largest stored in-scope SPL records, which may include that representative, are compared section by section, and the longest available version of each section is retained. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, product-listed strengths, and product-record counts are aggregated separately from ingredient-matched FDA NDC Directory records; package records listed above are associated with the linked SPL; and the normalized concept hierarchy comes from NLM RxNorm.
For canonical ingredient pages, bounded product-attributed indication and administration excerpts may be added to the AI evidence, and the generator is instructed to preserve available product, brand, route, and form qualifiers instead of treating one label as universal. Where a section is identified as AI-written, its plain-language text is generated from bounded label evidence. New draft drug pages remain in the admin review queue before first publication. BTG International Inc is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates; it is not the sole source used for the page.
This is general education, not medical advice — always consult your doctor or pharmacist about your medications and any medical condition. For the exact wording of the linked representative label, view that label on DailyMed; some displayed composite sections may come from other in-scope SPL labels. Learn how we use AI and our data sources & update cadence.