This idea, drug to metabolite switching, is an extension of the chiral switch concept. The purpose of the switching is to develop an active metabolite which will be devoid of the side-effects and have an improved therapeutic profile compared to the parent chiral drug. Some examples of chiral drug to metabolite switches, (those in the market and others under investigation) include terfenadine to fexofenadine, halofantrine to desbutylhalofantrine, and cisapride to norcisapride. A summary is presented in the table below.