Gemcitabine elaidate is an ester of anticancer drug gemcitabine and elaidic fatty acid. The motivation to make an ester was to facilitate gemcitabine uptake and prolong retention in the cell. The drug is converted to parent compound gemcitabine both inside and outside the cell. Gemcitabine elaidate was developed by Clavis Pharma for treatment of solid tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, but its development was discontinued after product missed the primary endpoint in the Phase II LEAP trial to treat metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Triciribine is a purine analogue which inhibits DNA and protein synthesis, it is a synthetic tricyclic nucleoside which acts as a specific inhibitor of the Akt signaling pathway. It selectively inhibits the phosphorylation and activation of Akt1, -2 and -3 but does not inhibit Akt kinase activity nor known upstream Akt activators such as PI 3-Kinase and PDK1. It inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis preferentially in cells that express aberrant Akt1. In whole cells triciribine is phosphorylated by adenosine kinase which may be necessary for its activity. Triciribine is a cancer drug which was first synthesised in the 1970s and trialled clinically in the 1980s and 1990s without success. Following the discovery in the early 2000s that the drug would be effective against tumours with hyperactivated Akt, it is now again under consideration in a variety of cancers. As PTX-200, the drug is currently in two early stage clinical trials in breast cancer and ovarian cancer being conducted by the small molecule drug development company Prescient Therapeutics.

Tezacitabine is a cytidine derivative patented by Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as an antineoplastic and antiviral agent. Tezacitabine acts as irreversible ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor and DNA chain terminator. Tezacitabine shows as potent activity in a broad spectrum of tumor cell lines and in vivo tumor models, including human colon, prostate, and breast tumor xenografts, In clinical trials combination of Tezacitabine and 5-Fluorouracil exerts favor influences in patients with advanced solid tumors particularly in patients with esophageal and other gastrointestinal carcinomas.

8-chloroadenosine (8-Cl-Ado) is a ribonucleoside analog. The mechanism of its action remains poorly understood, however, it is known that the drug inhibits RNA synthesis. It has significant cytotoxic activity against lymphoid and myeloid malignant cells. The nucleoside analog 8-Cl-Ado is phosphorylated into its cytotoxic triphosphate 8-Cl-ATP. The accumulation of the cytotoxic metabolite results in a parallel decrease of the ATP cellular pools. 8-Cl-Ado gets incorporated into RNA during transcription, hindering this process. In addition, this triphosphate inhibits ATP-dependent poly(A) tail synthesis, and, as a consequence, mRNA processing is inhibited, resulting in vitro cytotoxicity in several solid and hematological malignancies. This agent is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.

8-Azaguanine is a purine analog which resembles guanine close enough to compete with it in the metabolism of living organisms. It has been widely studied and has shown to cause retardation of some malignant neoplasms when administered to tumors in animals. It has been used for the treatment of patients with leukemia.

Piritrexim is a synthetic antifolate agent with antiparasitic, antipsoriatic and antitumor properties. Piritrexim inhibits the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase, thereby disrupting folate metabolism and DNA synthesis and cell division. A theoretical advantage of piritrexim over trimetrexate is a lack of any known effects on histamine metabolism, which may lower the risk of hypersensitivity reactions. Piritrexim is a nonclassical antifolate for antitumor and parasitic chemotherapy that passively diffuses into cells and hence do not have to depend on folylpoly-gamma-glutamate synthetase or the reduced folate carrier. Because piritrexim is not a substrate for polyglutamation, the drug is not selectively retained within cells for prolonged periods. Piritrexim has a reliably high oral bioavailability of about 75%, which has led to its development as an oral lipophilic antifolate. Most commonly, it has been administered in oral daily doses of 75 to 150 mg bid or tid every 5 days, with cycles repeated every 3 weeks. Oral absorption is rapid, with peak plasma levels appearing at 1.5 hours after ingestion. Elimination occurs primarily via hepatic metabolism of the drug to active metabolites, and the terminal half-life of the parent compound is about 1.5 to 4.5 hours. Single-agent oral piritrexim has clinical activity in melanoma, urothelial cancers, and head and neck cancers. Tolerable combinations of piritrexim with cisplatin, fluorouracil, and leucovorin have been tested, with promising results achieved in head and neck cancer. An interesting attempt to alternate piritrexim with methotrexate did not have any greater activity than methotrexate alone.

Raluridine (also know as 935U83) is a nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor patented by Wellcome Foundation Ltd. for the treatment of HIV infection. Raluridine has demonstrated selective anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activity in vitro and favorable safety profiles in monkeys and mice. When tested in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated normal human peripheral blood lymphocytes against fresh clinical isolates of HIV type 1 Raluridine inhibited virus growth with an average 50% inhibitory concentration of 1.8 microM. Importantly, Raluridine retained activity against HIV strains that were resistant to zidovudine, 2',3'-dideoxyinosine, or 2',3'-dideoxycytosine. The anabolic profile of Raluridine was similar to that of zidovudine, and Raluridine triphosphate was a potent inhibitor of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. In clinical trials systemic exposure to Raluridine at levels exceeding its average in vitro antiretroviral 50%, inhibitory concentration (approximately 1.8 microM) can be achieved after a single oral dose.

Thiarabine (also known as OSI-7836) is a new-generation deoxycytidine nucleoside analog with potent anticancer activity. As with other nucleoside analogs, Thiarabine is a prodrug and requires intracellular phosphorylation by deoxycytidine kinase to the active form (Thiarabine-triphosphate), which then competes with deoxycytidine for incorporation into DNA resulting in cell death. In xenograft studies using lung, colon, pancreatic, breast, and melanoma models, Thiarabine shows superior antitumor activity in most of these tumors, particularly in lung and pancreatic models, compared with gemcitabine, cisplatin, and paclitaxel. Thiarabine seems to be less schedule dependent than gemcitabine, showing antitumor activity with a variety of schedules in preclinical studies. In clinical trials, Thiarabine administration was associated with excessive fatigue, and despite changes in its schedule and duration of administration.

1-(2-DEOXY-2-FLUORO-β-D-ARABINOFURANOSYL)URACIL (FAU) is a thymidine analog. In several cancer cell lines, FAU was phosphorylated intracellularly to its monophosphate, 1-(2-deoxy-2-fluoro--Darabinofuranosyl) uracil monophosphate (FAUMP), by thymidine kinase and methylated in the 5-position by thymidylate synthase to form the product, 1-(2-deoxy-2-fluoro- -D-arabinofuranosyl) 5-methyluracil monophosphate (FMAUMP). FAU strongly inhibits the growth of tumor cells with high thymidylate synthase activity. FAU had been in phase I clinical trial for the treatment of advanced solid tumors.

Lometrexol, formerly known as DDATHF; LY 264618; T-64 was the first glycinamide ribonucleotide formyl transferase (GARFT) inhibitor to be investigated clinically. Lometrexol had been in phase II clinical trial for the treatment non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the studies have been discontinued by Tularik Inc, because Company had suggested, that drug would face competition from other companies in the indication