A deoxycytidine derivative and fluorouracil PRODRUG that is used as an ANTINEOPLASTIC ANTIMETABOLITE in the treatment of COLON CANCER; BREAST CANCER and GASTRIC CANCER.

A drug used to treat stage III colon cancer in patients who had surgery to remove the cancer. It is also used to treat metastatic breast cancer that has not improved after treatment with certain other anticancer drugs. Xeloda is being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer. It is taken up by cancer cells and breaks down into 5-fluorouracil, a substance that kills tumor cells. Xeloda is a type of antimetabolite.

A fluoropyrimidine carbamate belonging to the class of antineoplastic agents called antimetabolites. As a prodrug, capecitabine is selectively activated by tumor cells to its cytotoxic moiety, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU); subsequently, 5-FU is metabolized to two active metabolites, 5-fluoro-2-deoxyuridine monophosphate (FdUMP) and 5-fluorouridine triphosphate (FUTP) by both tumor cells and normal cells. FdUMP inhibits DNA synthesis and cell division by reducing normal thymidine production, while FUTP inhibits RNA and protein synthesis by competing with uridine triphosphate for incorporation into the RNA strand. (NCI04)