Protein / target

Farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase

FDPSP14324Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
11
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

(2E,6E)-farnesyl diphosphate synthase activity

Strongest disease association

porokeratosis 9, multiple types

Genetic evidence · score 0.74

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

11 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

11 approved

30 linked trials

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

Key enzyme in isoprenoid biosynthesis which catalyzes the formation of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP), a precursor for several classes of essential metabolites including sterols, dolichols, carotenoids, and ubiquinones. FPP also serves as substrate for protein farnesylation and geranylgeranylation. Catalyzes the sequential condensation of isopentenyl pyrophosphate with the allylic pyrophosphates, dimethylallyl pyrophosphate, and then with the resultant geranylpyrophosphate to the ultimate product farnesyl pyrophosphate

Subcellular location

Cytoplasm
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (16)

Gene Ontology

  • Ccytoplasm
  • Ccytosol
  • Cmitochondrial matrix
  • Cperoxisome
  • F(2E,6E)-farnesyl diphosphate synthase activity
  • Fdimethylallyltranstransferase activity
  • Fmetal ion binding
  • FRNA binding
  • Pcholesterol biosynthetic process
  • Pcholesterol biosynthetic process via desmosterol
  • Pcholesterol biosynthetic process via lathosterol
  • Pfarnesyl diphosphate biosynthetic process

419 aa · 48 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Metabolic enzyme activityGOTranscriptional regulationReactome
View supporting evidence

Metabolic enzyme activity

  • ·dimethylallyltranstransferase activity

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·Activation of gene expression by SREBF (SREBP)
View underlying pathways (2)

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

Interaction neighbourhood

STRING v12.0

Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.

HMGCS1GGPS1RSAD2FDFT1MVDIDI1IDI2HMGCS2PDSS1HMGCRFDPS

10 strongest partners — larger node and heavier line mean higher confidence

Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.

Drugs targeting this protein

1

Whether each drug engages this protein directly or through a complex, and how many other targets are recorded for it. Direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

zoledronic acid
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Farnesyl diphosphate synthase inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving metastasis, plasma cell myeloma, prostate carcinoma, bone Paget disease

Direct interaction with this protein · Only this protein recorded as a target

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

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically — disease associations, drugs in development, tractability and safety, from Open Targets.

Strongest genetic associations

Human genetic evidence — the most direct causal link between this target and a disease.

porokeratosis 9, multiple types0.74

Genetic · overall 0.64

disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis0.73

Genetic literature · overall 0.62

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.

osteoporosis1.00

Clinical · overall 0.61

postmenopausal osteoporosis0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

plasma cell myeloma0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

bone Paget disease0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

prostate carcinoma0.97

Clinical · overall 0.59

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

metastasis0.59

Clinical

bone fracture0.58

Clinical

prostate cancer0.57

Clinical

Show all associations
porokeratosis 9, multiple types0.64
disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis0.62
osteoporosis0.61
postmenopausal osteoporosis0.60
plasma cell myeloma0.60
bone Paget disease0.60
prostate carcinoma0.59
metastasis0.59
bone fracture0.58
prostate cancer0.57

Open Targets ranks 276 associations for this target and we store the top 10 by aggregated score. The long tail is largely literature co-mention and RNA-expression evidence, not evidence that this target drives those diseases.

Known drugs · 11 total

PAMIDRONATE DISODIUMApproval

breast cancer · plasma cell myeloma · Bone pain

RISEDRONIC ACIDApproval

Paget disease · bone disorder · bone Paget disease

RISEDRONATE SODIUMApproval

postmenopausal osteoporosis · osteoporosis · Paget disease

PAMIDRONIC ACIDApproval

Hypercalcemia · bone disorder · osteogenesis imperfecta

IBANDRONATE SODIUMApproval

postmenopausal osteoporosis · osteoporosis · injury

ZOLEDRONIC ACID ANHYDROUSApproval

Hypercalcemia · lung cancer · breast cancer

ZOLEDRONIC ACIDApproval

metastasis · plasma cell myeloma · prostate carcinoma

ALENDRONATE SODIUMApproval

osteoporosis · bone Paget disease · postmenopausal osteoporosis

ALENDRONIC ACIDApproval

osteoporosis · Paget disease · postmenopausal osteoporosis

IBANDRONIC ACIDApproval

osteoporosis · metastasis · bone fracture

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Half-life DataPR · Small Molecule Binder

Safety liabilities

osteonecrosis

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.

Show remaining trials (24)

COMPLETED · via zoledronic acid · NCT00375505

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

Forefront confidence

Synthesis

Our own weighting of the evidence behind each disease association. Human genetics and clinical evidence count for most; literature co-mention counts for little, because two entities sharing an abstract is not evidence that one drives the other.

osteoporosisWell supported
0.75
agreement 0.600.91
Clinical96%Literature4%

Open Targets aggregate 0.61 · 2 independent evidence families

porokeratosis 9, multiple typesModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.630.86
Genetic100%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.64 · 1 independent evidence family · 1 not counted as duplicate

postmenopausal osteoporosisModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.590.90
Clinical98%Literature3%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

plasma cell myelomaModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.600.88
Clinical98%Literature2%RNA expression1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 3 independent evidence families

bone Paget diseaseModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.570.90
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 1 independent evidence family

This ranking differs from Open Targets' own: re-weighting moves genetically-evidenced diseases above more heavily co-mentioned ones. 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 underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

15

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through a drug that targets this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  1. Withdrawn from market2026-03-13

    Market withdrawal: Zoledronic acid medac (EMA)

    ema · market · ema · via zoledronic acid

  2. Withdrawn from market2024-03-01

    Market withdrawal: Zoledronic acid Actavis (EMA)

    ema · market · ema · via zoledronic acid

  3. Withdrawn from market2024-02-22

    Market withdrawal: Zoledronic Acid Hospira (EMA)

    ema · market · ema · via zoledronic acid

  4. New publication2021-04-20
    Treatment With Zoledronate Subsequent to Denosumab in Osteoporosis: A 2-Year Randomized Study.

    Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2021 · 69 citations · Europe PMC · via zoledronic acid

  5. New publication2016-05-18
    A Single-dose Zoledronic Acid Infusion Prevents Antiretroviral Therapy-induced Bone Loss in Treatment-naive HIV-infected Patients: A Phase IIb Trial.

    Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2016 · 41 citations · Europe PMC · via zoledronic acid

  6. New publication2015-12-07
    Bone Marker-Directed Dosing of Zoledronic Acid for the Prevention of Skeletal Complications in Patients with Multiple Myeloma: Results of the Z-MARK Study.

    Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2016 · 36 citations · Europe PMC · via zoledronic acid

  7. Regulatory approval2014-01-16

    Approval: Zoledronic Acid Accord (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via zoledronic acid

  8. New publication2013-11-06
    Re-treatment of relapsed Paget's disease of bone with zoledronic acid: results from an open-label study.

    BoneKEy reports · 2013 · 12 citations · Europe PMC · via zoledronic acid

  9. Regulatory approval2012-08-23

    Approval: Zoledronic acid Mylan (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via zoledronic acid

  10. Regulatory approval2012-08-16

    Approval: Zoledronic acid Teva (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via zoledronic acid

  11. New publication2011-02-22
    Randomized, double-blind study of denosumab versus zoledronic acid in the treatment of bone metastases in patients with advanced cancer (excluding breast and prostate cancer) or multiple myeloma.

    Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2011 · 814 citations · Europe PMC · via zoledronic acid

  12. New publication2010-01-15
    Zoledronic acid for treatment of osteopenia and osteoporosis in women with primary breast cancer undergoing adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy.

    Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2010 · 25 citations · Europe PMC · via zoledronic acid

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.