Mesna: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Mesna is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for cystitis and hemorrhage. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Treats (across its forms)
- Cystitis and Hemorrhage
- Available as
- Injectable · Tablet
- Sold as
- Mesnex
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
How mesna is dosed
From the FDA label for Mesnex (application NDA020855). Other mesna products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
MESNEX may be given on a fractionated dosing schedule of three bolus intravenous injections or a single bolus injection followed by two oral administrations of MESNEX tablets as outlined below. The dosing schedule should be repeated on each day that ifosfamide is administered. When the dosage of ifosfamide is adjusted, the ratio of MESNEX to ifosfamide should be maintained. ( 2 ) Intravenous Dosing Schedule: 0 Hours 4 Hours 8 Hours Ifosfamide 1.2 g/m 2 -- -- MESNEX injection 240 mg/m 2 240 mg/m 2 240 mg/m 2 Intravenous and Oral Dosing Schedule: 0 Hours 2 Hours 6 Hours Ifosfamide 1.2 g/m 2 -- -- MESNEX injection 240 mg/m 2 -- -- MESNEX tablets -- 480 mg/m 2 480 mg/m 2 Maintain sufficient urinary output, as required for ifosfamide treatment, and monitor urine for the presence of hematuria. ( 2.3 ) 2.1 Intravenous Dosing MESNEX may be given on a fractionated dosing schedule of three bolus intravenous injections as outlined below. MESNEX injection is given as intravenous bolus injections in a dosage equal to 20% of the ifosfamide dosage weight by weight (w/w) at the time of ifosfamide administration and 4 and 8 hours after each dose of ifosfamide. The total daily dose of MESNEX is 60% of the ifosfamide dose. The recommended dosing schedule is outlined below in Table 1. Table 1. Recommended Intravenous Dosing Schedule 0 Hours 4 Hours 8 Hours Ifosfamide 1.2 g/m 2 – – MESNEX…
Mesna side effects
The following are discussed in more detail in other sections of the labeling. • Hypersensitivity Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] • Dermatological Toxicity [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] • Benzyl Alcohol Toxicity [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) ] • Laboratory Test Interferences [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4) ] • Use in Patients with a History of Adverse Reactions to Thiol Compounds [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5) ] The most common adverse reactions (> 10%) when MESNEX is given with ifosfamide are nausea, vomiting, constipation, leukopenia, fatigue, fever, anorexia, thrombocytopenia, anemia, granulocytopenia, diarrhea, asthenia, abdominal pain, headache, alopecia, and somnolence. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Baxter Healthcare at 1-866-888-2472, or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch . 6.1 Clinical Trials Experience Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. MESNEX adverse reaction data are available from four Phase 1 studies in which single intravenous doses of 600-1200 mg MESNEX injection without concurrent chemotherapy were administered to a total of 53 healthy volunteers and single oral…
Who shouldn’t take mesna
MESNEX is contraindicated in patients known to be hypersensitive to mesna or to any of the excipients [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ]. • Known hypersensitivity to mesna or to any of the excipients in MESNEX, including benzyl alcohol. ( 4 )
Mesna drug interactions
No clinical drug interaction studies have been conducted with MESNEX.
Every mesna product we track (1)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
Only one: Mesnex.
Combination products containing mesna
A combination is a different drug — different dosing, different warnings. It is listed here so you can find it, not so you can substitute it.
How long mesna keeps
No mesna label we read sets a separate limit for after opening, but they do specify how it must be stored — and the stability behind any date assumes those conditions.
Does mesna expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsWhat people report to the FDA about mesna
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 9,060 reports naming mesna, and the FDA flagged 98% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- febrile neutropenia1,370 reports
- pyrexia706 reports
- neutropenia591 reports
- thrombocytopenia407 reports
- anaemia394 reports
- vomiting381 reports
- sepsis376 reports
- pancytopenia371 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean mesna caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is mesna?
MESNEX (mesna) is a detoxifying agent to inhibit the hemorrhagic cystitis induced by ifosfamide.
Can you take mesna with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run mesna against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What forms does mesna come in?
Across the brands we track, mesna is currently marketed as injectable and tablet, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic mesna?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled mesna product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Mesna: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/mesna
- MLA
- “Mesna: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/mesna.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for mesna on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.