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Protein / target

Fatty-acid amide hydrolase 1

Encoded byFAAHO00519Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
1
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Fatty acid amide hydrolase

Strongest disease association

Migraine Disorders

Via encoding gene FAAH · Clinical evidence · score 0.62

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function overview

Catalyzes the hydrolysis of endogenous amidated lipids like the sleep-inducing lipid oleamide ((9Z)-octadecenamide), the endocannabinoid anandamide (N-(5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z-eicosatetraenoyl)-ethanolamine), as well as other fatty amides, to their corresponding fatty acids, thereby regulating the signaling f…

View complete UniProt function annotation

Catalyzes the hydrolysis of endogenous amidated lipids like the sleep-inducing lipid oleamide ((9Z)-octadecenamide), the endocannabinoid anandamide (N-(5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z-eicosatetraenoyl)-ethanolamine), as well as other fatty amides, to their corresponding fatty acids, thereby regulating the signaling functions of these molecules (PubMed:17015445, PubMed:19926788, PubMed:9122178). Hydrolyzes polyunsaturated substrate anandamide preferentially as compared to monounsaturated substrates (PubMed:17015445, PubMed:9122178). It can also catalyze the hydrolysis of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-(5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z-eicosatetraenoyl)-glycerol) (PubMed:21049984). FAAH cooperates with PM20D1 in the hydrolysis of amino acid-conjugated fatty acids such as N-fatty acyl glycine and N-fatty acyl-L-serine, thereby acting as a physiological regulator of specific subsets of intracellular, but not of extracellular, N-fatty acyl amino acids (By similarity)

Subcellular location

Endomembrane systemCytoplasm, cytoskeleton
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (18)

Gene Ontology

  • Ccytoskeleton
  • Cendoplasmic reticulum membrane
  • Cglutamatergic synapse
  • Corganelle membrane
  • Cpostsynapse
  • Cpresynapse
  • Famidase activity
  • Ffatty acid amide hydrolase activity
  • Fidentical protein binding
  • Fmonoacylglycerol lipase activity
  • Fphospholipid binding
  • Parachidonate metabolic process

579 aa · 63 kDa

Biological roles

What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.

Lipid & lipoprotein metabolismUniProt · GOSynaptic signallingGO
View supporting evidence

Lipid & lipoprotein metabolism

  • ·Catalyzes the hydrolysis of endogenous amidated lipids like the sleep-inducing lipid ole…
  • ·fatty acid amide hydrolase activity
  • ·phospholipid binding
  • ·fatty acid catabolic process

Synaptic signalling

  • ·glutamatergic synapse
  • ·postsynapse
  • ·presynapse
  • ·regulation of trans-synaptic signaling by endocannabinoid, modulating synaptic transmiss…

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Approved medicines with mapped indications

1 medicine · 9 areas

Approved therapies targeting this protein, grouped by what they are approved to treat — the disease-first view of the medicines below. Relationships come from the canonical approved-indication graph (ChEMBL phase-4), the same source as the drug cards.

Acute Pain1 medicine
Arthritis1 medicine
Back Pain1 medicine
Common Cold1 medicine
Fever1 medicine
Headache1 medicine
Influenza, Human1 medicine
Migraine Disorders1 medicine
Pain1 medicine

Approved indications from ChEMBL (phase-4), via the canonical drug→disease graph.

Drugs targeting this protein

1

How approved and investigational drugs engage this protein — mechanism and action type, direct vs complex targeting, and how broadly each acts across other targets. A drug-first view (the section above groups the approved ones disease-first); direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

acetaminophen
ApprovedInhibitor

Anandamide amidohydrolase inhibitor

Indicated for Acute Pain, Arthritis, Back Pain, Common Cold

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 4 recorded protein targets

ChEMBL mechanism, action type, target identity and approved indications. Open Targets clinical status.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically, strongest evidence first. Disease associations are gene-level (via the gene that encodes this protein) and open into the full confidence synthesis; the development universe, tractability and safety annotations are target-level, from Open Targets.

Strongest disease associations · via encoding gene FAAH

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene FAAH that encodes this protein — not a direct protein–disease relationship. Ranked by Forefront's causal-directness weighting, so genetically- and clinically-evidenced diseases lead over ones that merely share the literature.

Migraine Disorders
0.76Well supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.62

View evidence synthesis (1)
Migraine DisordersWell supported
0.76
agreement 0.610.92
Clinical92%Literature8%

Open Targets aggregate 0.62 · 2 independent evidence families

The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations
Migraine Disorders0.62

Drug development

3 compounds recorded · 1 approved · 2 in clinical development

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines. Distinct from the 1 drug that targets this protein in Forefront's canonical graph (1 with a mapped approved indication, shown above): these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (3)
REDAFAMDASTATPhase 2
JNJ-42165279Phase 2
ACETAMINOPHENApproval

Open Targets known-drugs universe. Drug name and highest clinical stage only — the disease relationship is NOT read from this slice (it carries trial-context noise); approved indications come from the canonical graph above.

Tractability

Small moleculesStrong

Approved Drug and High-Quality Ligand support this modality.

AntibodiesEmerging

Feasibility evidence (uniprot sigp or tmhmm) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Protein degradersEmerging

Feasibility evidence (database ubiquitination and half-life data) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

View underlying tractability evidence (7)
SM · Approved DrugSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Half-life DataPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

be THC dependentClinPGxpost-operative nausea and vomitingClinPGxadverse eventsClinPGxrespiratory depressionClinPGxweight gain of more than 7% of baseline body weightClinPGxweight gainClinPGxbe tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) dependentClinPGxpost-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV)ClinPGx

Terms indexed against this target in Open Targets' safety data, with their datasource. These are annotations, not causal claims: the direction of effect (whether activation or inhibition is implicated), species and evidence strength are not captured here, so an entry does not mean that modulating this target is known to cause that condition.

Clinical trials

30

Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein. Ranked by active status, then clinical phase and recency, and spread across the targeting drugs.

View all trials (26)

COMPLETED · via acetaminophen · NCT05076110

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

12

Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for a drug that targets this protein, plus publications where such a drug is a genuine subject. Every item is reached indirectly through the drug, not the protein itself; incidental mentions (a paper that merely measures a drug) and press items are excluded.

  1. Supplemental approval2026-06-18

    Supplemental approval: ACETAMINOPHEN AND CODEINE (ANDA040779)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via acetaminophen

  2. Supplemental approval2026-06-18

    Supplemental approval: ACETAMINOPHEN AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA040419)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via acetaminophen

  3. Supplemental approval2026-06-18

    Supplemental approval: ACETAMINOPHEN AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA087508)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via acetaminophen

  4. Supplemental approval2026-06-18

    Supplemental approval: ACETAMINOPHEN AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA089805)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via acetaminophen

  5. Supplemental approval2026-06-18

    Supplemental approval: ACETAMINOPHEN AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA089828)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via acetaminophen

  6. Supplemental approval2026-06-18

    Supplemental approval: ACETAMINOPHEN AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA089990)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via acetaminophen

  7. Supplemental approval2026-06-18

    Supplemental approval: ACETAMINOPHEN AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA202800)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via acetaminophen

  8. Supplemental approval2026-06-18

    Supplemental approval: ACETAMINOPHEN AND CODEINE PHOSPHATE (ANDA211610)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via acetaminophen

  9. New publication2019-10-25
    Comparison of clinical outcomes of acetaminophen IV vs PO in the peri-operative setting for laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair surgeries: A triple-blinded, randomized controlled trial.

    Journal of clinical anesthesia · 2020 · 13 citations · Europe PMC · via acetaminophen

  10. New publication2011-06-17
    A randomized placebo-controlled trial of acetaminophen for prevention of post-vaccination fever in infants.

    PloS one · 2011 · 16 citations · Europe PMC · via acetaminophen

  11. New publication2010-12-01
    A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, repeat-dose study of two intravenous acetaminophen dosing regimens for the treatment of pain after abdominal laparoscopic surgery.

    Clinical therapeutics · 2010 · 93 citations · Europe PMC · via acetaminophen

  12. New publication2006-12-01
    Intravenous acetaminophen vs oral ibuprofen in combination with morphine PCIA after Cesarean delivery.

    Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2006 · 45 citations · Europe PMC · via acetaminophen

Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.