An orally bioavailable, synthetic, highly selective adenosine A3 receptor (A3AR) agonist with potential antineoplastic activity. Namodenoson selectively binds to and activates the cell surface-expressed A3AR, deregulating Wnt and NF-kB signal transduction pathways downstream, which may result in apoptosis of A3AR-expressing tumor cells. A3AR, a G protein-coupled receptor, is highly expressed on the cell surfaces of various solid tumor cell types, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, and plays an important role in cellular proliferation.