Thrombopoietic agent

A thrombopoietic agent is a drug that induces the growth and maturation of megakaryocytes. The group is defined by that action rather than by a single chemical structure, so it brings together medicines of quite different kinds. The source names romiplostim, eltrombopag, oprelvekin, which is a recombinant form of interleukin 11, and thrombopoietin itself as agents in clinical use, and it names lusutrombopag and avatrombopag as agents still under clinical investigation. This entry records the class as a way of grouping drugs by what they do to megakaryocytes. It is a reference description of how medicine classifies these agents, not advice about any treatment, and the individual member drugs can be described on their own pages.