pentostatin pentostatin pentostatin (or deoxycoformycin, trade name nipent, manufactured by supergen) is an anticancer chemotherapeutic drug. pentostatinclinical datatrade namesnipentahfs/drugs.commonographmedlineplusa692004routes ofadministrationintravenousatc codel01xx08 (who) legal statuslegal status ca: ℞-only uk: pom (prescription only) us: ℞-only pharmacokinetic databioavailabilityn/aprotein binding4%metabolismhepatic, minorelimination half-life2.6 to 16 hours, mean 5.7 hoursidentifiers iupac name (r)-3-((2r,4s,5r)-4-hydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydrofuran-2-yl)-3,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazodiazepin-8-ol cas number53910-25-1 ypubchem cid439693iuphar/bps4805drugbankdb00552 ychemspider388759 yunii395575mzo7keggd00155 ychemblchembl1580 ycomptox dashboard (epa)dtxsid2023436 echa infocard100.164.991 chemical and physical dataformulac11h16n4o4molar mass268.273 g·mol−13d model (jsmol)interactive image smiles n1c3c(n(c1)2o((o)c2)co)n\c=n/c3o inchi inchi=1s/c11h16n4o4/c16-3-8-6(17)1-9(19-8)15-5-14-10-7(18)2-12-4-13-11(10)15/h4-9,16-18h,1-3h2,(h,12,13)/t6-,7+,8+,9+/m0/s1 ykey:fpvkhbsqesciep-jqcxwylxsa-n y (verify) mechanism it is classified as a purine analog, which is a type of antimetabolite. it mimics the nucleoside adenosine and thus inhibits the enzyme adenosine deaminase, interfering with the cell's ability to process dna. cancer cells generally divide more often than healthy cells; dna is highly involved in cell division (mitosis) and drugs which target dna-related processes are therefore more toxic to cancer cells than healthy cells. uses pentostatin is used to treat hairy cell leukemia. it is given by intravenous infusion once every two weeks for three to six months. additionally, pentostatin has been used to treat steroid-refractory acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease. pentostatin is also used in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (cll) patients who have relapsed.