Pentostatin is an adenosine deaminase inhibitor used to treat hairy cell leukemia. The drug is effective in the treatment of many lymphoproliferative malignancies, particularly hairy-cell leukemia.
- Mechanism
- Curator reviewed
Pentostatin is a potent transition state inhibitor of adenosine deaminase (ADA), the greatest activity of which is found in cells of the lymphoid system. T-cells have higher ADA activity than B-cells, and T-cell malignancies have higher activity than B-cell malignancies. The cytotoxicity that results from prevention of catabolism of adenosine or deoxyadenosine is thought to be due to elevated intracellular levels of dATP, which can block DNA synthesis through inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase. Intracellular activation results in incorporation into DNA as a false purine base. An additional cytotoxic effect is related to its incorporation into RNA. Cytotoxicity is cell cycle phase-specific (S-phase).
- Primary indication
- For the treatment of hairy cell leukaemia refractory to alpha interferon.Curator reviewed · 7 structured indications
- Formula / weight
- C11H16N4O4 · 268.2691 g/mol (avg)
- First approval
- Canada, 1993 · United States, 2007
- Also known as
- Co-vidarabine · Covidarabine
- Code names
- CI-825 · NSC-218321 · PD-81565 · PD-ADI · YK-176
- Brand names
Resolves to
FPVKHBSQESCIEP-JQCXWYLXSA-NSMILESOC[C@H]1O[C@H](C[C@@H]1O)N1C=NC2=C1N=CNC[C@H]2OWhat you can answer from here — as of September 23, 2026
Which drugs share a target with Pentostatin, and which of those have an active Phase 3 trial?
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