“…The prodrug 5'd-FUR (5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine, Doxifluridine) cannot be converted directly to the nucleotide level due to the presence of a 5-deoxy-ribose moiety and needs to be converted to 5-FU (5-fluorouracil) ( Figure 1) for its activation (Armstrong et al, 1980(Armstrong et al, , 1981(Armstrong et al, , 1983aIshitsuka et al, 1980;Hartmann & Matter, 1982). 5'd-FUR is moderately active in patients (20-30% responders) with various types of tumours (Abele et al, 1984;Alberto et al, 1986Alberto et al, , 1987Hurteloup et al, 1986) and mice (Armstrong & Diasio, 1980;Bollag & Hartmann, 1980;Ishitsuka et al, 1980;Hartmann & Matter, 1982). Plasma level of 5-FU are usually 5-20% of those of 5'd-FUR at a molar level and 5-FU mimics 5'd-FUR pharmacokinetics (Sommadossi et 1983; De Bruijn et al, 1985).…”