Reported Reactions

Drugs › Alkylating drug

Generic name

Carmustine: adverse event reports filed with FDA

3,378 reports list it as a suspect or interacting product, 2004–2026. Class: Alkylating drug.

3,378
reports as suspect product
0% of all reports · about 150 a year
180
reports, 12 months to June 2026
287 in the 12 months before
99%
marked serious by the reporter
93.5% across the class
27.4%
record death among outcomes, as reported
926 reports · not verified by FDA

3,378 adverse event reports received by FDA list carmustine, a generic name as a suspect or interacting product, from January 2004 to June 2026. A further 683 reports list it only as a concomitant medication, and those are not counted in the figures on this page.

In the 12 months to June 2026, 180 reports listed it, down 37% from 287 in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Over its reporting history that is about 150 reports a year and 0% of the 20,646,523 reports in the database, and 1.3% of the reports for the alkylating drug class. How many people take it is not in the data, so a count is not a rate of occurrence.

The MedDRA terms listed most often are off label use (13%), febrile neutropenia (9.6%) and myelodysplastic syndrome (8.3%). A report can list several reactions, so shares add to more than 100%; 678 different terms appear across these reports. Off label use is recorded in 13% of these reports, a larger share than in the median alkylating drug drug (8.5%).

99% of the reports are marked serious by the reporter (93.5% across the class); 27.4% record death among the outcomes and 25.1% record hospitalisation, as reported. 50.4% of the reports came from other health professionals, and the largest patient age group is 45 to 64 (30.7%). FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

03773Jul 2021: 17Aug 2021: 12Sep 2021: 20Oct 2021: 18Nov 2021: 14Dec 2021: 92022Jan 2022: 22Feb 2022: 7Mar 2022: 24Apr 2022: 17May 2022: 15Jun 2022: 8Jul 2022: 15Aug 2022: 20Sep 2022: 24Oct 2022: 21Nov 2022: 27Dec 2022: 332023Jan 2023: 73Feb 2023: 52Mar 2023: 27Apr 2023: 14May 2023: 49Jun 2023: 32Jul 2023: 41Aug 2023: 21Sep 2023: 12Oct 2023: 18Nov 2023: 32Dec 2023: 212024Jan 2024: 6Feb 2024: 18Mar 2024: 7Apr 2024: 7May 2024: 12Jun 2024: 25Jul 2024: 25Aug 2024: 16Sep 2024: 38Oct 2024: 28Nov 2024: 26Dec 2024: 342025Jan 2025: 29Feb 2025: 12Mar 2025: 15Apr 2025: 20May 2025: 18Jun 2025: 26Jul 2025: 20Aug 2025: 9Sep 2025: 2Oct 2025: 4Nov 2025: 12Dec 2025: 242026Jan 2026: 15Feb 2026: 13Mar 2026: 25Apr 2026: 16May 2026: 11Jun 2026: 29

Reports by the month FDA received them. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

By year received

01963922004: 7120042005: 412006: 132007: 4520072008: 682009: 672010: 4520102011: 1172012: 962013: 7620132014: 462015: 1222016: 9220162017: 1862018: 2522019: 28620192020: 3212021: 2672022: 23320222023: 3922024: 2422025: 19120252026: 109

2026 covers reports received through June 2026 only.

Reactions recorded in the reports

share of Carmustine reports recording the termmedian drug in alkylating drug

  1. Off label useused for a purpose or in a way not on the label13%439
  2. Febrile neutropeniafever with low white blood cells9.6%325
  3. Disease progressionthe disease advanced7.2%243
  4. Thrombocytopenialow platelets5.4%183
  5. Pneumonialung infection4.6%157
  6. Neutropenialow neutrophils, a type of white blood cell4.6%155
  7. Drug ineffectivethe medicine did not work as expected4.4%147
  8. Pyrexiafever4.2%142
  9. Product use in unapproved indicationused for a purpose not on the label3.9%131
  10. Infectionan infection, type not specified3.8%130
  11. Sepsisa severe body-wide response to infection3.6%123
  12. Diarrhoealoose or frequent stools3.6%120
  13. Anaemialow red blood cells2.8%93
  14. Malignant transformation2.6%88
  15. Pancytopenialow counts of all blood cells2.5%85
  16. Deaththe patient died; cause not stated by this term2.3%79
  17. Septic shockshock arising from infection2.1%70
  18. Leukopenialow white blood cells2%66
  19. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma recurrent2%66
  20. Acute kidney injurysudden loss of kidney function1.9%63
  21. Neuropathy peripheralnerve damage in hands or feet1.9%63
  22. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma recurrent1.8%62
  23. Stomatitissore mouth1.8%61
  24. Intentional product use issuedeliberate use not as intended1.8%60

Top 30 of 678 MedDRA preferred terms recorded across these reports, with a plain-language gloss where one is available. One report can record several terms. The hollow bar is the median share across the 23 drugs in the alkylating drug class; it describes the reports, not the patients. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Outcomes recorded

Death27.4%926
Life-threatening9.2%312
Hospitalisation (initial or prolonged)25.1%847
Disability1.8%61
Congenital anomaly0.1%4
Other serious74.3%2,509
Not serious1%33

Outcome flags as the reporter set them; a report can carry several, and "other serious" is FDA's own category for serious reports outside the named outcomes. Grey bar: all 253,205 reports in the class. FDA has not verified any outcome and states that the reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Patients and reporters

Patient age

Under 20.3%9
2 to 111.1%38
12 to 170.5%17
18 to 4417%573
45 to 6430.7%1,038
65 to 7411.6%392
75 and over2.3%78
Age not given36.5%1,233

Patient sex

Female26.1%882
Male48%1,621
Not given25.9%875

Who reported

Physician36.4%1,228
Pharmacist2.5%85
Other health professional50.4%1,702
Lawyer0.3%9
Consumer or non-health professional5.4%184
Not given5%170

Age and sex as stated in the report; the reporter's qualification is the primary source recorded by FDA. 19.9% of reports give the United States as the country of the event or reporter.

Reason for use recorded

Indication as recorded (MedDRA)ReportsShare
Diffuse large b-cell lymphoma44213.1%
Bone marrow conditioning regimen39511.7%
Mantle cell lymphoma1865.5%
Hodgkin's disease1755.2%
Non-hodgkin's lymphoma1554.6%
Follicular lymphoma902.7%

The indication field is filled in by the reporter and is often blank; shares are of all 3,378 reports.

Drugs most often listed in the same reports

Drug (any role in the report)ReportsShare of Carmustine reports
Etoposide2,57976.3%
Cytarabine2,45872.8%
Melphalan2,14963.6%
Cyclophosphamide1,67349.5%
Rituximab1,47443.6%
Prednisone1,09632.4%
Vincristine1,04430.9%
Dexamethasone1,02930.5%
Doxorubicin96528.6%
Cisplatin87625.9%

Other products listed in reports where Carmustine is a suspect product, whatever their own role. Co-listing means the two were recorded together; it says nothing about either product's part in the event. Only the 2,500 most-reported names are counted here.

In context

MeasureCarmustineAlkylating drugAll reports
Reports as suspect product3,378253,20520,646,523
Share of that pool—1.3%0%
Reports, latest 12 months180—1,332,454
Marked serious99%93.5%57.4%
Death recorded among outcomes, per 1,000 reports27420891
Hospitalisation recorded, per 1,000 reports251333213
Consumer-filed share5.4%6.3%45.8%
Top term, share of reportsOff label use 13%median 8.5%4.1%

Shares are of reports, not of patients treated. The number of people taking a product is not in the data, so none of these figures is a rate, and differences between columns reflect who takes a product, who reports and how long it has been sold. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Other drugs in the alkylating drug class

DrugName typeReportsLatest 12 monthsMarked serious
Cyclophosphamidegeneric141,09912,36097.8%
Ifosfamidegeneric18,6581,32598.2%
Melphalangeneric17,19095698.5%
Temozolomidegeneric15,3241,05582.3%
Busulfangeneric11,8251,09594.9%
Thiotepageneric7,8531,03598.8%
Bendamustine hydrochloridegeneric6,94125396%
Dacarbazinegeneric6,43151196.3%
Temodarbrand4,6522456.1%
Matulanebrand3,84528415.9%
Treandabrand3,330366.5%
Chlorambucilgeneric2,4867598.5%
Valchlorbrand2,1141628.4%
Mitomycingeneric2,04111792.4%
Lomustinegeneric1,1009294.8%

Ordered by report count for navigation only. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic." A brand and its generic are separate rows because reporters name them separately.

Questions about Carmustine reports

How many adverse event reports has FDA received for Carmustine?

3,378 reports list Carmustine as a suspect or interacting product in the openFDA FAERS release of 28 Sep 2026, covering reports received through June 2026. 180 of them arrived in the latest 12 months. Another 683 list it only as a concomitant medication.

What reactions are recorded in Carmustine reports?

off label use (13%), febrile neutropenia (9.6%), myelodysplastic syndrome (8.3%), disease progression (7.2%) and thrombocytopenia (5.4%). These are MedDRA preferred terms coded from what the reporter described; a report can list several, and a term's presence is not a finding that Carmustine was responsible.

How serious are the reports?

99% are marked serious by the reporter. Among the outcomes recorded, 27.4% of reports include death and 25.1% include hospitalisation. FDA has not verified these outcomes and states that the reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence" of the events.

Who files these reports?

other health professional (50.4%), physician (36.4%) and consumer or non-health professional (5.4%). Most reports reach FDA through the manufacturer, which must forward reports it receives.

Are reports for Carmustine rising?

180 reports in the 12 months to June 2026, down 37% from 287 in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Counts also move with how many people take a product, its time on the market and publicity.

Do these reports show that Carmustine was responsible for these reactions?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event." The reaction may relate to the condition being treated, to other medicines, or to something else.

Is this a list of the side effects of Carmustine?

No. It is a count of what was reported to FDA. The adverse reactions observed in clinical studies are printed on the FDA-approved label, which a pharmacist or clinician can go through with you.

How do I report an adverse event?

Consumers and health professionals can report to FDA through MedWatch (Form FDA 3500 online, or 1-800-FDA-1088), or to the manufacturer, which must pass reports on. See the guide on how to report.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. A report counts here when it lists Carmustine as a suspect or interacting product; reports listing it only as a concomitant medication (683) are excluded. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.