Atrasentan is an experimental drug that is being studied for the treatment of various types of cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

, including non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

.

It is an endothelin receptor antagonist

Endothelin receptor antagonist

A endothelin receptor antagonist is a drug that blocks endothelin receptors.Three main kinds of ERAs exist:* selective ETA receptor antagonists , which affect endothelin A receptors....

 selective for subtype A

Endothelin receptor type A

Endothelin receptor type A, also known as ETA, is a human G protein-coupled receptor.-Interactions:Endothelin receptor type A has been shown to interact with HDAC7A and HTATIP.-Further reading:...

 (ET_A). While other drugs of this type (sitaxentan, ambrisentan

Ambrisentan

Ambrisentan is a drug indicated for use in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension.It functions as an endothelin receptor antagonist, and is selective for the type A endothelin receptor ....

) exploit the vasoconstrictive properties of endothelin and are mainly used for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension, atrasentan blocks endothelin induced cell proliferation.