Efficacy of amrubicin for non-small cell lung cancer after failure of two or more prior chemotherapy regimens.
BACKGROUND
No investigation of amrubicin monotherapy in pre-treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients has yet been reported.


METHODS
The records were reviewed of NSCLC patients who had received amrubicin monotherapy between 2003 and 2007 with the following eligibility criteria:previously treated with at least two regimens including platinum and docetaxel for non-adenocarcinoma patients and platinum, docetaxel and epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKI) for adenocarcinoma patients. Amrubicin was administered to both groups at 35 mg/m2 or 40 mg/m2 for 3 consecutive days, every 3 weeks.


RESULTS
Thirty-nine patients were registered. The median number of prior chemotherapy regimens was three (range: 2 to 7). The median number of courses per patient was three (range one to 9). The toxicity profile was acceptable with no grade 3 or higher non-hematological toxicity. The overall response rate was 10.2%. The median survival time was 4.8 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Amrubicin exhibits activity and acceptable toxicity as third or subsequent line of chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC.
Igawa
Satoshi
S
Division of Thoracic Oncology, Shizuoka Cancer Center, Shizuoka 411-8777, Japan.
Takahashi
Toshiaki
T
Nakamura
Yukiko
Y
Tsuya
Asuka
A
Ono
Akira
A
Shukuya
Takehito
T
Shukuya
Takehiro
T
Murakami
Haruyasu
H
Endo
Masahiro
M
Yamamoto
Nobuyuki
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018943:Anthracyclines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate
D018943:Anthracyclines; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; C055866:amrubicin