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Bendamustine

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Abstract

  • ▴ Bendamustine is a bifunctional alkylating agent with cytotoxic activity against human ovarian and breast cancers in vitro. It shows only partial in vitro cross-resistance with cyclophosphamide, melphalan, carmustine and cisplatin.

  • ▴ Bendamustine as monotherapy or as part of combination chemotherapy protocols for first-line or subsequent treatment produced objective response rates of 61 to 97% in patients with Hodgkin’s disease or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) [41 to 48% in high grade NHL].

  • ▴ In patients with multiple myeloma, a bendamustine/ prednisone regimen produced a higher rate of complete response (32 vs 11%) and more durable responses than a melphalan/prednisone regimen.

  • ▴ Substitution of bendamustine for cyclophosphamide in a standard first-line COP regimen (cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisolone) yielded similar response rates in patients with advanced low grade NHL.

  • ▴ Substituting bendamustine for cyclophosphamide in the CMF protocol (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and fluorouracil) prolonged remission from 6.2 to 15.2 months in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

  • ▴ The most common adverse events in patients receiving bendamustine are haematological events and gastrointestinal disturbances. Bendamustine has a relatively low propensity to induce alopecia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Adis International Limited, 41 Centorian Drive, Private Bag 65901, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 10, New Zealand

    Julia A. Barman Balfour & Karen L. Goa

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  1. Julia A. Barman Balfour
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  2. Karen L. Goa
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Correspondence to Karen L. Goa.

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Barman Balfour, J.A., Goa, K.L. Bendamustine. Drugs 61, 631–638 (2001). https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-200161050-00009

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