A simple and a novel electroanalysis of hydroxyurea (HU) drug at pencil graphite electrode (PGE) has been investigated by using cyclic, linear sweep and differential pulse voltammetric techniques. The oxidation of HU was irreversible and exhibits a diffusion controlled process and is of pH dependence. The oxidation mechanism was proposed. The dependence of the current on pH, the concentration, nature of buffer, and scan rate was investigated to optimize the experimental conditions for the determination of HU. It was found that the optimum buffer for the determination of HU was pH of 8.0. In the range of 0.01 to 1.0 mM, the current measured by differential pulse voltammetry presents a good linear property as a function of the concentration of HU with a limit of detection of 7.89 mu M. The developed method was successfully applied to HU determination in pharmaceutical formulation and human urine. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.