Pemetrexed disodium is a therapeutic oncology drug successfully developed by Eli Lilly and Company in the U.S.A. The patent protection period is up to January 2017.Pemetrexed disodium is a multi-targeted antifolate agent structurally containing a core of pyrrolopyrimidine moiety, which belongs to the dual inhibitors of nucleotide synthase/dihydrofolate reductase, inhibiting cell replication through the disruption of the process of folate-dependent normal metabolism within the cell, and it can simultaneously block three kinds ofdifferent enzyme targets that are critical to the survival of cancer cells, thereby inhibiting tumor growth.

At present, clinically, pemetrexed disodium can be combined with cisplatin, or nedaplatin and other chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma, which can be used for postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy of lung adenocarcinoma, and also used for palliative chemotherapy for advanced patients.Pemetrexed disodium can also be used in combination with cisplatin and other drugs for the treatment of pleural mesothelioma, and pemetrexed disodium can be used alone in patients with poor physique.