What is "satraplatin"

n. A particular drug used in chemotherapy.

Satraplatin ( INN, codenamed JM216) is a platinum-based antineoplastic agent that is under investigation as one treatment of patients with advanced prostate cancer who have failed previous chemotherapy. It has not yet received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. First mentioned in the medical literature in 1993, satraplatin is the first orally active platinum-based chemotherapeutic drug; other available platinum analogues— cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin—must be given intravenously.

It is made available in the United States jointly by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals and GPC Biotech under the name SPERA (SatraPlatin Expanded Rapid Access).

The drug has also been used in the treatment of lung and ovarian cancers. The proposed mode of action is that the compound binds to the DNA of cancer cells rendering them incapable of dividing.