Formula C2H8NO4P Appearance White powder | Molar mass 141.063 g/mol | |
 | ||
Phosphorylethanolamine or phosphoethanolamine is an ethanolamine derivative that is used to construct two different categories of phospholipids. One category termed a glycerophospholipid and the other a sphingomyelin, or more specifically within the sphingomyelin class, a sphingophospholipid. Phosphorylethanolamine is a polyprotic acid with two pKa values at 5.61 and 10.39.
Contents
Research
Research is being conducted with Ehrlich ascites tumor cells in vitro to see if phosphoethanolamine could be used in cancer treatment. In studies in rats, phosphorylethanolamine failed to stop the growth of tumors.
There is, however, an experiment with mice that stated synthetic phosphoethanolamine has in vitro and in vivo anti-leukemia effects.
As a potential drug, phosphorylethanolamine has never been evaluated in human clinical trials.
The main synthetic form of phosphoryethanolamine is Calcium 2-aminoethylphosphate.
Legality
There has been ongoing controversy and litigation in Brazil with regard to its use as a cancer treatment prior to approval by the National Health Surveillance Agency. In September 2015, administrators at the University of São Paulo attempted to prevent chemists at the São Carlos campus from continuing to unofficially manufacture, distribute, and promote the drug to cancer patients since it had not been tested in humans yet. In October 2015, several courts in Brazil ruled in favor of plaintiffs who wanted the right to try the compound. However, a state court overturned the lower courts' decision a month later. Jailson Bittencourt de Andrade, secretary for Brazil’s science and technology ministry, said the ministry plans to fund further research on the compound, but that it will be years before a determination can be made about phosphoethanolamine's safety and efficacy in humans.
On April 14, 2016, a law was passed in Brazil allowing the use of synthetic phosphoethanolamine for cancer treatment, despite opposition from the Brazilian Medical Association, the Brazilian Society of Clinical Oncology, and the regulatory agency ANVISA. However, shortly after, the country's Supreme Court suspended the law.