Talampanel (TLP) was developed as a noncompetitive (allosteric) antagonist of the AMPA receptor. Talampanel does not act directly on the AMPA receptor, but at an allosteric site referred to as the GYKI receptor. Talampanel is being studied in the treatment of brain tumors and other brain disorders, such as epilepsy, Parkinson disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, dyskinesias, glioblastoma, multiple sclerosis. It is a type of AMPA receptor antagonist. Dizziness has been the most commonly reported adverse event, with some sedation and ataxia, drowsiness and headaches reported at higher doses.

Synthetic compound Erteberel (LY500307) is a highly potent and selective ERβ agonist; it has a 12-fold higher affinity for ERβ than ERα and exhibits 32-fold more functional potency. LY500307 was well tolerated in benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) patients with no side effects and it is currently being tested in phase 2 clinical trials for improving negative symptoms and cognitive impairment associated with Schizophrenia. In BPH clinical trial incidence of adverse events was comparable between treatment groups, and no clinically meaningful changes in laboratory tests were observed.

RES-529 (previously named Palomid 529, P529) is a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway inhibitor that interferes with the pathway through both mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2) dissociation. P529 inhibits tumor growth, angiogenesis, and vascular permeability. It retains the beneficial aspects of tumor vascular normalization that rapamycin boasts. This compound is currently being developed in oncology and ophthalmology. The oncology focus is for the treatment of glioblastoma, where it has received orphan designation by the US Food and Drug Administration, and prostate cancer.

Veliparib (ABT-888) is a potent inhibitor of PARP, has good oral bioavailability, can cross the blood-brain barrier, and potentiates temozolomide, platinums, cyclophosphamide, and radiation in syngeneic and xenograft tumor models. AbbVie is developing veliparib for the treatment of cancers. Clinical trials are underway worldwide, investigating veliparib primarily as part of a combination therapy in oncology indications such as brain, colorectal, melanoma, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

Misonidazole is a nitroimidazole with radiosensitizing and antineoplastic properties. Exhibiting high electron affinity, misonidazole induces the formation of free radicals and depletes radioprotective thiols, thereby sensitizing hypoxic cells to the cytotoxic effects of ionizing radiation. This single-strand breaks in DNA induced by this agent result in the inhibition of DNA synthesis. The drug also possesses a substantial cytotoxic effect, independent of radiation, which is selectively expressed in hypoxic cells. Misonidazole may be cytotoxic to the normal hypoxic tissues in the human body, making this became a major concern in the clinical application of the drug. Misonidazole leads to strand breaks in cellular DNA and those cells which fail to survive also fail to repair these strand breaks. Misonidazole depletes intracellular glutathione and is more toxic in glutathione depleted cells.

Enzastaurin is a serine/threonine kinase inhibitor that showed antiangiogenic, antiproliferative, and proapoptotic properties in vitro and antitumor activity in vivo in a xenograft Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) model. Enzastaurin (LY317615) is a potent PKCβ selective inhibitor. Enzastaurin suppresses angiogenesis and was advanced for clinical development based upon this antiangiogenic activity. Enzastaurin suppresses tumor growth through multiple mechanisms: direct suppression of tumor cell proliferation and the induction of tumor cell death coupled to the indirect effect of suppressing tumor-induced angiogenesis. Enzastaurin is an orally administered drug that was intended for the treatment of solid and haematological cancers. Enzastaurin had shown encouraging preclinical results for the prevention of angiogenesis, inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis as well as showing limited cytotoxicity within phase I clinical trials. However, during its assessment in phase II and III clinical trials the efficacy of enzastaurin was poor both in combination with other drugs and as a single agent. Eli Lilly discontinued development of enzastaurin after top-line data from the double-blind, international Phase III PRELUDE trial in 758 DLBCL patients showed that enzastaurin missed the primary endpoint of improving DFS vs. placebo.

Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc's tandutinib (MLN-518), a piperazinyl derivative of quinazoline, is an orally active inhibitor of FLT3 kinase and family members PDGFR beta and c-Kit. Tandutinib inhibited FLT3 phosphorylation, downstream signaling and malignant growth in vitro and in animal models. The drug exhibited limited activity as a single agent in phase I and II clinical trials in patients with AML and myelodysplastic syndrome, but displayed promising antileukemic activity (90% complete remissions) in a phase I/II trial in patients with newly diagnosed AML when administered in combination with cytarabine and daunorubicin. Phase II clinical trials for tandutinib in patients with Glioblastoma have being discontinued. The use of tandutinib to treat AML has been granted fast-track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Phase II trials were underway., but later withwrawn.

Galunisertib is a potent inhibitor of TGF beta type 1 receptor. The drug is under clinical development for the treatment of different cancers: pancreatic, hepatocellular, breast, rectal, prostate etc. and reached phase 2/3 in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.

Torin 1 is a highly potent and selective ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitor discovered as a potential anticancer drug. It directly inhibits two functionally distinct complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, that coordinately promote cell growth, proliferation, and survival and impairs cell growth and proliferation to a far greater degree than rapamycin. Torin 1 is a picomolar inhibitor of mTORC1 enzymatic activity and single digit nanomolar inhibitor of cellular mTOR activity and has more than 800-fold selectivity between mTOR and PI3K. The pharmacokinetic properties of torin 1 were both in vitro and in vivo. It exhibited a short in vivo half-life and low oral bioavailability but displayed pharmacodynamic inhibition of both mTORC1 and mTORC2 outputs in lung and liver. Torin 1 dosed once a day at 20 mg/kg for 10 days demonstrated efficacy in a U87MG glioblastoma xenograft mouse model. Torin1 also caused lipin 1 nuclear translocation suggesting that lipin 1 cytoplasmic-nuclear relocalization responds to mTORC1 and not mTORC2 status. Torin 1 completely inhibited S106 lipin 1 phosphorylation and impaired S237 and S472 lipin 1 phosphorylation at prolonged exposure. Inhibition of mTORC1 in the liver significantly impairs SREBP function and makes mice resistant, in a lipin 1-dependent fashion, to the hepatic steatosis and hypercholesterolemia induced by a high fat and cholesterol diet. However, if potent mTORC1 inhibiting could be useful as potential treatments for metabolic syndrome has to be elucidated yet.

SANT-1 is antagonist of Smoothened (Smo), a distant relative of G protein-coupled receptors, mediates Hedgehog (Hh) signaling during embryonic development and can initiate or transmit ligand-independent pathway activation in tumorigenesis. It suppressed cancer cell viability, proliferation and colony formation.