Pemetrexed (Alimta®)
Pemetrexed works by blocking three enzymes that cells need to replicate. These enzymes, needed for folate-dependent metabolic processes, are required for DNA replication. By blocking DNA production, cell growth and division is stopped, causing cancer to slow or stop growing. Since cancer cells, in general, divide faster and with less error-correcting than healthy cells, cancer cells are more sensitive to this damage.