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Potential Role of Oral Anthracyclines in Older Patients with Cancer

  • Review Article
  • Drug Therapy
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Summary

Two anthracycline analogues, idarubicin and menogaril, have acceptable bioavailability via the oral route of administration.

Encouraging antitumour activity of oral idarubicin has been reported in breast cancer, non-lymphocytic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and myeloma. The outlook for menogaril is less clear, given the modest antitumour activity reported so far.

Although the oral formulations of idarubicin and menogaril remain investigational, they represent a step forward in the direction of developing new active anticancer drugs with oral bioavailability.

Further prospective studies of the orally-active anthracyclines in elderly patients with cancer are justified. These studies should address specific issues such as optimal dosage regimens as a function of ‘physiological age’, and quality of life.

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  1. Service de Médecine Interne et Laboratoire d’Investigation Clinique H.J. Tagnon, Institut Jules Bordet, Centre des Tumeurs de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles, Rue Héger-Bordet 1, B-1000, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Wieslaw S. Lasota,  Dominique L. de Valeriola & Martine J. Piccart

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  1. Wieslaw S. Lasota
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Lasota, W.S., de Valeriola, D.L. & Piccart, M.J. Potential Role of Oral Anthracyclines in Older Patients with Cancer. Drugs & Aging 4, 392–402 (1994). https://doi.org/10.2165/00002512-199404050-00004

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