[Mouth ulcers induced by enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium (Myfortic].

BACKGROUND: Mycophenolate sodium (Myfortic) is an enteric-coated formulation of the immunosuppressant therapy mycophenolic acid. We report a case of diffuse mouth ulceration in a patient treated with Myfortic presenting recurrence after another dose of drug. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We report the case of a 26-year-old female patient with systemic lupus erythematosus, initially treated with corticosteroids and mycophenolate mofetil, but which was stopped because of varicella-zoster dissemination and leucopoenia. She consulted for mouth ulcers occurring two weeks after the introduction of Myfortic. There were no signs of opportunist infection or lupus activity. Mucosal ulcerations disappeared when Myfortic was stopped. Several weeks later, the patient presented recurrence of mouth ulcerations after another treatment of Myfortic. DISCUSSION: Myfortic is a new enteric-coated formulation of mycophenolic acid developed to reduce gastrointestinal upset associated with Cellcept. In certain cases, Cellcept toxicity can present as a number of oral ulcerations. Direct toxicity is involved in these cases. This side effect has never been described with Myfortic. In our case, the distinctive characteristic is that the patient was never treated with Cellcept without mucosal toxicity despite equivalent systemic mycophenolic acid exposure.