{"entity":{"id":"pentostatin","kind":"drug","name":"Pentostatin","aka":["Deoxycoformycin","2'-deoxycoformycin"],"tldr":"An intravenous drug given every other week that produces long remissions in hairy cell leukaemia by poisoning the leukaemic lymphocytes' purine metabolism; cladribine is the one-week alternative.","summary":"Pentostatin was approved in the United States in 1991 for hairy cell leukaemia, initially after interferon alfa had failed and then as first-line treatment, on the strength of a randomised comparison in which it produced far more complete remissions than interferon (Grever, JCO 1995). It is given as a short intravenous infusion of 4 mg/m² every other week until maximal response. It is also used in T-cell leukaemias and lymphomas and, off label, in graft-versus-host disease and reduced-intensity transplant conditioning. Prolonged lymphopenia with infection risk is the main toxicity, and renal impairment requires dose reduction.","status":"approved","asOf":"2026-09-08","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentostatin","links":[{"label":"Label (DailyMed)","url":"https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/search.cfm?labeltype=all&query=pentostatin"},{"label":"Grever 1995, JCO: pentostatin versus interferon alfa in hairy cell leukaemia","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.1995.13.4.974"}],"tags":["gap-fill","generic"],"related":["cladribine"],"cancers":["hairy-cell-leukemia"],"sections":[],"technologies":["cytotoxic-chemotherapy"],"targets":["ada"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["nct00254163","nct01188798","nct01059786"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-grever-j-clin-oncol"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"brand":"Nipent","modality":"Purine analogue, adenosine deaminase inhibitor","mechanism":"Binds adenosine deaminase almost irreversibly, so deoxyadenosine triphosphate accumulates in lymphocytes, blocks DNA synthesis and triggers apoptosis.","approvals":[{"region":"US","year":1991,"indication":"Hairy cell leukaemia (initially alpha-interferon-refractory; later untreated disease)"}],"mechanismSteps":[],"toxicity":[],"access":[],"regulatoryEvents":[]},"route":"/drugs/pentostatin/","neighbours":{"drug":[{"id":"cladribine","kind":"drug","name":"Cladribine","route":"/drugs/cladribine/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"hairy-cell-leukemia","kind":"cancer","name":"Hairy cell leukaemia","route":"/cancers/hairy-cell-leukemia/"}],"technology":[{"id":"cytotoxic-chemotherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Cytotoxic chemotherapy","route":"/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/"}],"target":[{"id":"ada","kind":"target","name":"Adenosine deaminase (ADA)","route":"/targets/ada/"}],"trial":[{"id":"nct00254163","kind":"trial","name":"Fludarabine, Cyclophosphamide, and Rituximab Versus Pentostatin, Cyclophosphamide, and Rituximab in Previously Untreated or Treated B-Cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients","route":"/trials/nct00254163/"},{"id":"nct01188798","kind":"trial","name":"Methotrexate or Pentostatin for Graft-versus-host Disease Prophylaxis in Risk-adapted Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation for Hematologic Malignancies","route":"/trials/nct01188798/"},{"id":"nct01059786","kind":"trial","name":"Randomized Phase II Trial of Rituximab With Either Pentostatin or Bendamustine for Multiply Relapsed or Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia","route":"/trials/nct01059786/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-grever-j-clin-oncol","kind":"paper","name":"Randomized comparison of pentostatin versus interferon alfa-2a in previously untreated patients with hairy cell leukemia: an intergroup study","route":"/key-papers/paper-grever-j-clin-oncol/"}]}}