Prodrug not its intended target. This reduces adverse or unintended effects of a drug, especially important in treatments like chemotherapy, which can have severe unintended and undesirable side effects. Many herbal extracts historically used in medicine contain glycosides (sugar derivatives) of the active agent, which are hydrolyzed in the intestines to release the active and more bioavailable aglycone. For example, salicin is a β-D-glucopyranoside that is cleaved by esterases to release salicylic acid. Aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid, first made by Felix Hoffmann at Bayer in 1897, is a synthetic prodrug of salicylic acid. However, in other cases, such as codeine and morphine,
Disulfiram-like drug Disulfiram-like drug A disulfiram-like drug is a drug that causes hypersensitivity to alcohol leading to nausea, vomiting, flushing, dizziness, throbbing headache, chest and abdominal discomfort, and general hangover-like symptoms among others. These effects are caused by accumulation of acetaldehyde, a major but toxic metabolite of alcohol formed by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase. The reaction has been variously termed a "disulfiram-like reaction", "alcohol intolerance", and "acetaldehyde syndrome". The prototypical drug of this group is disulfiram (brand name Antabuse), which acts as an acetaldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitor, preventing the metabolism of acetaldehyde into acetic acid, and is used in the treatment of alcoholism.