Carbetimer is a partially imidized copolymer of ethylene & maleic anhydride with average MW approx 1,200 daltons; capable of specific stimulation of immune response. Carbetimer is a low molecular weight polymer derived from ethylene and maleic anhydride with potent antineoplastic activity. Preclinical studies have shown antitumor effects against many tumor cell lines including B 16 melanoma. Its antitumor actions are felt to include both reduction of uridine and cytidine nucleoside triphosphate as well as the diminution of pyrimidine salvage by inhibiting uridine, cytidine, and thymidinekinase. Besides direct antiproliferative effects, Carbetimer could act through immunomodulation, as suggested by the induction of cytotoxic T-cells in mice and the discordant in vitro and in vivo activities against the Lewis lung carcinoma model.
Fazarabine, also known as Kymarabine, is an orally-active pyrimidine analogue of an aza-substituted cytidine in which the ribose moiety is replaced by an arabinose sugar. Similar in action to cytarabine, fazarabine is phosphorylated by deoxycytidine kinase to a triphosphate form which competes with thymidine for incorporation into DNA; its incorporation into DNA inhibits DNA synthesis, resulting in tumor cell death and tumor necrosis. The presence of deoxycytidine kinase in a tumor is a determinant of tumor sensitivity to this drug.
Bucyclovir triphosphate is an antiherpes and cyclic guanosine analog activated by the viral thymidinekinase to inhibit viral DNA synthesis in infected cells.