A Review on Noscapine, and its Impact on Heme Metabolism

This review introduces the Noscapine, which is being used as an antitussive drug for a long time has been recently discovered as a novel tubulin-binding, anti-angiogenic anticancer drug that causes cell cycle arrest and induces apoptosis in cancer cells both in vitro as well as in vivo. Noscapine is a multifunctional molecule i.e. it possesses various functional moieties. We maneuvered various amenable sites and have synthesized analogs, which might prove to be more efficacious and less cytotoxic. Moreover, development of oral controlled release anticancer formulation of noscapine is severely hampered due to short biological half-life (< 2-h), poor absorption, low aqueous solubility, and extensive first pass metabolism, thereby requiring large doses for effective treatment.