Etoposide (Etopophos / Vepesid) is an approved anti-cancer drug. It is used in combination with other drugs to treat a range of cancers including small cell carcinoma, lymphoma and testicular cancer.

Etoposide is being tested as a treatment for Kaposi’s sarcoma. Clinical trials suggest that a proportion of people with Kaposi’s sarcoma that has not responded to other treatments may respond to etoposide and experience improved quality of life^[1]. It may also be a useful treatment in patients with no prior experience of anti-cancer treatment^[2]. Etoposide may also be active against the related disease multicentric Castleman’s disease^[3].

Etoposide comes either in capsule form or as a liquid for intravenous injection. The oral dose is usually double the injected dose. Nausea, vomiting and mouth ulcers occur especially often when it is taken in tablet form, and hair loss occurs frequently with both intravenous and oral administration. The most common side-effect requiring the dose to be reduced or treatment stopped is leukopenia, low levels of leukocytes in the blood^[4].

Etoposide is manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb. It is also sometimes referred to by the abbreviation VP-16.