[1] In January 2016, it was designated fast-track status by the United States Food and Drug Administration for prostate cancer.

[1] Seviteronel is a nonsteroidal antiandrogen, acting specifically as an androgen synthesis inhibitor via inhibition of the enzyme CYP17A1, for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer.

[3][4][5][6][7][8] It has approximately 10-fold selectivity for the inhibition of 17,20-lyase (IC50Tooltip half-maximal inhibitory concentration = 69 nM) over 17α-hydroxylase (IC50 = 670 nM), which results in less interference with corticosteroid production relative to the approved CYP17A1 inhibitor abiraterone acetate (which must be administered in combination with prednisone to avoid glucocorticoid deficiency and mineralocorticoid excess due to 17α-hydroxylase inhibition) and hence may be administerable without a concomitant exogenous glucocorticoid.

[7] In addition, in in vitro models, seviteronel appears to possess greater efficacy as an antiandrogen relative to abiraterone.

[6] Similarly to abiraterone acetate, seviteronel has also been found to act to some extent as an antagonist of the androgen receptor.