Emtricitabine

**Semantic type:** Pharmacologic Substance

**Definition:** A synthetic fluoro derivative of thiacytidine with potent antiviral activity. Emtricitabine is phosphorylated to form emtricitabine 5'-triphosphate within the cell. This metabolite inhibits the activity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reverse transcriptase both by competing with the natural substrate deoxycytidine 5'-triphosphate and by incorporation into viral DNA causing a termination of DNA chain elongation (due to the lack of the essential 3'-OH group).

**Synonyms:** - (-)-2'-Deoxy-5-fluoro-3'-thiacytidine - 2(1H)-Pyrimidinone, 4-amino-5-fluoro-1-(2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-oxathiolan-5-yl)-,(2R-cis)- - BW-524W91 - Coviracil - Coviracil - EMTRICITABINE - Emtriva - FTC - dOTFC