Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2008 Mar;7(3):255-70.
doi: 10.1038/nrd2468.

Prodrugs: design and clinical applications

Jarkko Rautio  1 , Hanna Kumpulainen, Tycho Heimbach, Reza Oliyai, Dooman Oh, Tomi Järvinen, Jouko Savolainen
Affiliations
Review

Prodrugs: design and clinical applications

Jarkko Rautio et al. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2008 Mar.

Erratum in

  • Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2008 Mar;7(3):272

Abstract

Prodrugs are bioreversible derivatives of drug molecules that undergo an enzymatic and/or chemical transformation in vivo to release the active parent drug, which can then exert the desired pharmacological effect. In both drug discovery and development, prodrugs have become an established tool for improving physicochemical, biopharmaceutical or pharmacokinetic properties of pharmacologically active agents. About 5-7% of drugs approved worldwide can be classified as prodrugs, and the implementation of a prodrug approach in the early stages of drug discovery is a growing trend. To illustrate the applicability of the prodrug strategy, this article describes the most common functional groups that are amenable to prodrug design, and highlights examples of prodrugs that are either launched or are undergoing human trials.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources