Docosanol is an antiviral used to treat orofacial herpes sores. A saturated 22-carbon aliphatic alcohol, docosanol exhibits antiviral activity against many lipid enveloped viruses including herpes simplex virus (HSV).
- Mechanism
- Curator reviewed
Docosanol works by inhibiting fusion between the human cell plasma membrane and the herpes simplex virus (HSV) envelope, thereby preventing viral entry into cells and subsequent viral replication. Unlike other cold-sore antivirals, docosanol does not act directly on the virus, and as such it is unlikely it will produce drug resistant mutants of HSV.
- Primary indication
- For the topical treatment of recurrent oral-facial herpes simplex episodes (cold sores or fever blisters).Curator reviewed · 1 structured indication
- Formula / weight
- C22H46O · 326.6 g/mol (avg)
- First approval
- Canada, 2005 · United States, 2010
- Also known as
- 1-Docosanol · Behenic alcohol · Behenyl alcohol · Docosyl alcohol · N-Docosanol
- Code names
- IK-2 · Lanette 22
- Brand names
Resolves to
NOPFSRXAKWQILS-UHFFFAOYSA-NSMILESCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCOWhat you can answer from here — as of October 02, 2026
Which drugs share a target with Docosanol, and which of those have an active Phase 3 trial?
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