A prodrug is a medication or compound that, after administration, is metabolized (i.e., converted within the body) into a pharmacologically active drug. Inactive prodrugs are pharmacologically inactive medications that are metabolized into an active form within the body. Instead of administering a drug directly, a prodrug might be used instead to improve how a medicine is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted (ADME). Prodrugs are often designed to improve bioavailability when a drug itself is poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. A prodrug may be used to improve how selectively the drug interacts with cells or processes that are 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. IUPAC definition Compound that undergoes biotransformation before exhibiting pharmacologicaleffects. Note 1: Modified from ref. Note 2: Prodrugs can thus be viewed as drugs containing specialized nontoxicprotective groups used in a transient manner to alter or to eliminate undesirableproperties in the parent molecule.

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