Current prodrug strategies for improving oral absorption of nucleoside analogues

Nucleoside analogues are first line chemotherapy in various severe diseases: AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency disease syndrome), cytomegalovirus infections, cancer, etc. However, many nucleoside analogues exhibit poor oral bioavailability because of their high polarity and low intestinal permeability. In order to get around this drawback, prodrugs have been utilized to improve lipophilicity by chemical modification of the parent drug. Alternatively, prodrugs targeting transporters present in the intestine have been applied to promote the transport of the nucleoside analogues. Valacyclovir and valganciclovir are two classic valine ester prodrugs transported by oligopeptide transporter 1. The ideal prodrug achieves delivery of a parent drug by attaching a non-toxic moiety that is stable during transport, but is readily degraded to the parent drug once at the target. This article presents advances of prodrug approaches for enhancing oral absorption of nucleoside analogues.