Marizomib is a natural beta-lactone produced by the marine bacterium Salinispora tropica. Marizomib has a broad inhibition profile for the 20S proteasome and has been shown to inhibit the CT-L (beta5) CT-T-laspase-like (C-L, beta1) and trypsin-like (T-L, beta2) activities of the 20S proteasome. The drug is being tested in phase II clinical trials for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma and Malignant Glioma and in phase I in patients with Non-small Cell Lung Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Melanoma or Lymphoma

The monoterpene perillyl alcohol (POH) is a naturally occurring compound derived from citrus fruits, mint, and herbs. It exhibited chemotherapeutic potential against various malignant tumors in preclinical models and was being tested in clinical trials in patients with refractory advanced cancers. POH was formulated in soft gelatine capsules and orally administered to cancer patients several times a day on a continuous basis. However, such clinical trials in humans yielded disappointing results, also because of the large number of capsules that had to be swallowed caused hard-to-tolerate intestinal side effects, causing many patients to withdraw from treatment due to unrelenting nausea, fatigue, and vomiting. The clinical trials in Brazil have explored intranasal POH delivery as an alternative to circumvent the toxic limitations of oral administration. In these trials, patients with recurrent malignant gliomas were given comparatively small doses of POH via simple inhalation through the nose. Results from these studies showed, that this type of long-term, daily chemotherapy was well tolerated and effective. The precise mechanism of action is still undetermined, but it is known, that perillyl alcohol plays an important role in the process of hepatoma cell invasion and migration via decreasing the activity of Notch signaling pathway and increasing E-cadherin expression regulated by Snail. Another possible mechanism is included inhibition of Na/K-ATPase (NKA). The NKA α1 subunit is known to be superexpresses in glioblastoma cells (GBM) and POH acts in signaling cascades associated with NKA can control cell proliferation and/or cellular death.

3,5-Diiodothyropropionic acid (DITPA), a carboxylic acid analog with low metabolic activity, was observed to induce alpha-MHC mRNA in heart cell culture with EC50 approximately 5 x 10(-7) M. Zarion Pharmaceuticals was developing DITPA (3,5-diiodothyropropionic acid), a thyroid hormone analogue, for the treatment of Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome. In May 2013, the US FDA granted DITPA orphan drug status for the treatment of Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome. However, development of DITPA for the treatment of Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome was discontinued.

Navuridine (AzddU) is a nucleoside analogue which demonstrated significant anti-HIV activity and low toxicity in preclinical studies. The drug was originally developed by University of Georgia. Navuridine is a dideoxyuridine inhibitor of HIV reverse transcriptase that is related to zidovudine. Navuridine exhibits a relatively short half-life and incomplete oral bioavailability and has not been developed into a clinical drug.

Mafosfamide is a synthetic oxazaphosphorine derivative with antineoplastic properties. Mafosfamide alkylates DNA, forming DNA cross-links and inhibiting DNA synthesis. The effects of mafosfamide on various types of cancer cells were determined during preclinical investigations and clinical trials. Its development has been discontinued.

Aconiazide, the isonicotinylhydrazone of 2-formylphenoxyacetic acid, has been used in the treatment and prophylaxis of tuberculosis. Aconiazide is a pro-drug of isoniazid which was designed to be less toxic than the parent drug. Aconiazide is hydrolyzed in the body to isoniazid and 2-formylphenoxyacetic acid. 2-Formylphenoxyacetic acid has been shown to bind hydrazine and acetylhydrazine. This binding could explain the lower toxicity of aconiazide and also could provide a reason for postulating its lack of carcinogenicity.

(S)-baclofen (or L-baclofen) is an enantiomer of baclofen, a direct GABA-B receptor mimetic. L-baclofen represents a significant improvement over racemic baclofen in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.

Ecopipam (SCH-39166) is a selective D1 dopamine receptor antagonist both in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, it exhibits saturable, high-affinity binding to D5 receptors. Ecopipam was studied clinically for a variety of indications, including schizophrenia, drug abuse, and obesity, but in each case undesirable effects were observed. Currently, ecopipam is in clinical trials for the treatment of Lesch-Nyhan and Gilles de la Tourette's syndromes.

Idronoxil (Phenoxodiol) is a synthetic flavonoid derivative developed by MEI Pharma for cancer treatment. Idronoxil inhibits proliferation of many cancer cell lines and induces apoptosis by disrupting FLICE-inhibitory protein, FLIP, expression and by caspase-dependent and -independent degradation of the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis, XIAP. In addition, Idronoxil sensitizes drug-resistant tumour cells to anticancer drugs including paclitaxel, carboplatin, and gemcitabine. The antiproliferative effects of Idronoxil are associated with inhibition of plasma membrane electron transport in tumour cell lines and primary immune cells. Idronoxil displays anti-cancer activity against all forms of cancer tested in vitro and in vivo to date, using cells representative of all major forms of cancer. While having a modest ability to kill cancer cells(IC50 range between about 1-5 uM), preclinical studies point to its optimal use being to sensitize cancer cells to the toxic effects of standard therapies (chemotherapy and radiotherapy). The rationale is that a sub-lethal inhibitory effect on sphingosine kinase activity reduces the ability of the cancer cell to operate drug-resistance mechanisms and to effect repair of drug- or radiation-induced damage to DNA. In the case of cytotoxic drugs such as cisplatin, carboplatin, paclitaxel, Doxorubicin, and gemcitabine, Idronoxil is an exquisite sensitizer, increasing the cytotoxic potential of those agents by between 103 -105 times, in the process restoring sensitivity to cancer cells highly refractory to those agents.