Icotinib is an orally available quinazoline-based inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor. It selectively inhibits the wild-type and several mutated forms of EGFR tyrosine kinase. The major organ of icotinib metabolism is the liver, with the primarily enzymes being CYP2C19 and CYP3A4 from the cytochrome P450 monooxygenase system. Icotinib Hydrochloride was approved for the treatment of patients with advanced stage Nonsmall cell lung cancer by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) of China. The major drug related adverse reactions of the traditional cytotoxic agents include rash, diarrhea, severe bone marrow suppression, neuropathy, hair loss, and gastrointestinal reactions. Icotinib is under investigation as an active agent against other EGFR mutation-positive cancers, like lung adenocarcinoma, oesophageal cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer and others.

Naphthoquine is an antimalarial drug first synthesized in China in 1986 but which was not developed for clinical use until the late 1990s. This drug now is used in combination for treatment of Plasmodium Falciparum and Malaria. The use of anti-malarial drug combinations with artemisinin or with one of its derivatives is now widely recommended to overcome drug resistance in falciparum as well as vivax malaria. The fixed oral dose artemisinin-naphthoquine combination (ANQ, ARCO™) is a newer artemisinin-based combination (ACT) therapy undergoing clinical assessment.

Acotiamide (Acofide(®)), an oral first-in-class prokinetic drug, is under global development by Zeria Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd and Astellas Pharma Inc. for the treatment of patients with functional dyspepsia. The drug modulates upper gastrointestinal motility to alleviate abdominal symptoms resulting from hypomotility and delayed gastric emptying. It exerts its activity in the stomach via muscarinic receptor inhibition, resulting in enhanced acetylcholine release and inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity. Acofide® is launched in Japan for treating functional dyspepsia.

Acotiamide (Acofide(®)), an oral first-in-class prokinetic drug, is under global development by Zeria Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd and Astellas Pharma Inc. for the treatment of patients with functional dyspepsia. The drug modulates upper gastrointestinal motility to alleviate abdominal symptoms resulting from hypomotility and delayed gastric emptying. It exerts its activity in the stomach via muscarinic receptor inhibition, resulting in enhanced acetylcholine release and inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity. Acofide® is launched in Japan for treating functional dyspepsia.

Clebopride is a dopamine antagonist drug. It is used to treat functional gastrointestinal disorder such as nausea or vomiting. Unchanged parent drug was the most abundant compound in human urine. Major metabolites included the hydroxylation at benzyl group to yield carbinolamine and its further N-dealkylation product, and the piperidine ring hydroxylation/oxidation metabolite (a lactam).

Trelagliptin (SYR-472), a novel dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Trelagliptin (as the salt Trelagliptin succinate) was approved for use in Japan in March 2015. Takeda, the company that developed Trelagliptin, chose to not get approval for the drug in the USA and EU.

Dapivirine, an anti-retroviral (ARV)-based microbicide, is a substituted diaminopyrimidine (DAPY) derivative and a potent non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) with antiviral activity against HIV-1. Dapivirine showed high activity against wild-type and mutant HIV in in virto HIV models inhibiting a broad panel of HIV-1 isolates from different classes, including a wide range of NNRTI-resistant isolates. Developed by Janssen Sciences (formerly Tibotec Pharmaceuticals), dapivirine was initially tested as an oral treatment for HIV in a number of Phase I/II clinical trials. In 2014 the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) began its work on the monthly dapivirine ring. Phase I/II clinical trials in Africa, Europe and the United States proved that dapivirine is safe and well-tolerated. Phase III long-term safety and efficacy studies of the monthly dapivirine ring as part of IPM's Dapivirine Ring Licensure Program confirmed that the monthly dapivirine ring can safely help prevent HIV infection in women. In 2016 the ASPIRE Study reported a 27 percent reduction in HIV-1 acquisition with a trend toward greater protection in women over age 21 and no significant protection for women under age 21.

Loxoprofen (INN) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug in the propionic acid derivatives group. It is marketed in Brazil, Mexico and Japan by Sankyo as its sodium salt, loxoprofen sodium, under the trade name Loxonin, Argentina as Oxeno and in India as Loxomac. It is available in these countries for oral administration, and a transdermal preparation was approved for sale in Japan on January 2006. It is usually used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. It is also used to reduce pain and inflammation after surgery, wounds and tooth removal, as well as to bring down fever or ease pain induced by acute inflammation of upper respiratory tract Loxoprofen is a prodrug. When administered orally, loxoprofen sodium hydrate is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract as an unchanged compound with only a modest gastric-mucosal irritation. It is then rapidly biotransformed into the active metabolite trans-OH form (SRS coordination) with a potent inhibitory effect on prostaglandin biosynthesis to exert its pharmacologic effects. Inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis constitutes the mechanism of action of this drug, the site of action being cyclooxygenase.

Loxoprofen (INN) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug in the propionic acid derivatives group. It is marketed in Brazil, Mexico and Japan by Sankyo as its sodium salt, loxoprofen sodium, under the trade name Loxonin, Argentina as Oxeno and in India as Loxomac. It is available in these countries for oral administration, and a transdermal preparation was approved for sale in Japan on January 2006. It is usually used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. It is also used to reduce pain and inflammation after surgery, wounds and tooth removal, as well as to bring down fever or ease pain induced by acute inflammation of upper respiratory tract Loxoprofen is a prodrug. When administered orally, loxoprofen sodium hydrate is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract as an unchanged compound with only a modest gastric-mucosal irritation. It is then rapidly biotransformed into the active metabolite trans-OH form (SRS coordination) with a potent inhibitory effect on prostaglandin biosynthesis to exert its pharmacologic effects. Inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis constitutes the mechanism of action of this drug, the site of action being cyclooxygenase.

Ambroxol, a substituted benzylamine, is an active metabolite of bromhexine, which is itself a synthetic derivative of vasicine, the active principle extracted from the plant species Adhatoda vasica. Ambroxol is an expectorant exerting mucokinetic properties, mucociliary activity, stimulation of surfactant production, anti-inflammatory and antioxidative actions and the local anaesthetic effect. Ambroxol was discovered at and has been manufactured by Dr. Karl Thomae GmbH, a division of Boehringer Ingelheim. The ambroxol patent is expired and the drug is available as a generic product from many different companies. Ambroxol was originally developed by Boehringer Ingelheim as a OTC therapy for respiratory disorders related to excessive mucus. Ambroxol's indication is secretolytic therapy in acute and chronic bronchopulmonary diseases associated with abnormal mucus secretion and impaired mucus transport. Boehringer Ingelheim markets the product under various brand names such as Mucosolvan® and Lasolvan®. Ambroxol was identified and found to be a pH-dependent, mixed-type inhibitor of glucocerebrosidase (GCase). Its inhibitory activity was maximal at neutral pH, found in the endoplasmic reticulum, and undetectable at the acidic pH of lysosomes. The pH dependence of Ambroxol to bind and stabilize the enzyme was confirmed. Ambroxol increases both the lysosomal fraction and the enzymatic activity of several mutant GCase variants. This profile of Ambroxol would allow to bind and stabilize GCase in the endoplasmic reticulum (thus preventing its degradation within endoplasmic reticulum), but without affecting GCase in the lysosomes (thus allowing it to degrade glucosylceramide). Indeed, studies showed that Ambroxol treatment significantly increased N370S and F213I mutant GCase activity and protein levels in fibroblasts originally obtained from Gaucher patients. Gaucher's disease is caused by the deficiency of glucocerebrosidase; ambroxol is a chaperone that acts by binding to and stabilising glucocerebrosidase. Zywie (formerly ExSAR Corporation) and Belrose Pharma are developing ambroxol hydrochloride (BEL 0218) for the treatment of type III Gaucher's disease. .