The World Health Organization's ATC classification organizes medical drugs based on therapeutic properties, chemical composition, and anatomy. It helps make essential medicines readily available globally and is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry.
| Level | Code | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | V | Various | |
| 2 | V10 | Therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals | |
| 3 | V10X | Other therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals | |
| 4 | V10XA | Iodine (131I) compounds | |
| 5 | V10XA02 | Iobenguane (131I) |
| Active Ingredient | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Iobenguane ¹³¹I |
Iobenguane is similar in structure to the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) and is subject to the same uptake and accumulation pathways as NE. Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) are tumors of neural crest origin that express high levels of the NE transporter on their cell surfaces. Following intravenous administration, iobenguane ¹³¹I is taken up and accumulates within pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma cells, and radiation resulting from radioactive decay of ¹³¹I causes cell death and tumor necrosis. |
