Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Government Funding Lapse
Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at opm.gov.

imetelstat sodium

View Patient Information
The sodium salt of imetelstat, a synthetic lipid-conjugated, 13-mer oligonucleotide N3' P5'-thio-phosphoramidate with potential antineoplastic activity. Complementary to the template region of telomerase RNA (hTR), imetelstat acts as a competitive enzyme inhibitor that binds and blocks the active site of the enzyme (a "telomerase template antagonist"), a mechanism of action which differs from that for the antisense oligonucleotide-mediated inhibition of telomerase activity through telomerase mRNA binding. Inhibition of telomerase activity in tumor cells by imetelstat results in telomere shortening, which leads to cell cycle arrest or apoptosis.
US brand name:Rytelo
Code name:GRN163L
GRN163L, sodium salt
Chemical structure:DNA, d(3'-amino-3'-deoxy-P-thio)(T-A-G-G-G-T-T-A-G-A-C-A-A), 5'-[O-[2-hydroxy-3- [(1-oxohexadecyl)amino]propyl] hydrogen phosphorothioate], sodium salt (1:13)
Search NCI's Drug Dictionary