For use as a component of adjuvant therapy in patients with evidence of axillary node tumor involvement following resection of primary breast cancer.
Epirubicin has antimitotic and cytotoxic activity. It inhibits nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) and protein synthesis through a number of proposed mechanisms of action: Epirubicin forms complexes with DNA by intercalation between base pairs, and it inhibits topoisomerase II activity by stabilizing the DNA-topoisomerase II complex, preventing the religation portion of the ligation-religation reaction that topoisomerase II catalyzes. It also interferes with DNA replication and transcription by inhibiting DNA helicase activity.
bone marrow aplasia, grade 4 mucositis, and gastrointestinal bleeding
100%
Half-lives for the alpha, beta, and gamma phases of about 3 minutes, 2.5 hours and 33 hours, respectively
Epirubicin and its major metabolites are eliminated through biliary excretion and, to a lesser extent, by urinary excretion.
* 21 ± 2 L/kg [60 mg/m2 Dose] * 27 ± 11 L/kg [75 mg/m2 Dose] * 23 ± 7 L/kg [120 mg/m2 Dose] * 21 ± 7 L/kg [150 mg/m2 Dose]
* 65 +/- 8 L/hour [Patients1 with Solid Tumors Receiving Intravenous Epirubicin 60 mg/m2] * 83 +/- 14 L/hour [Patients1 with Solid Tumors Receiving Intravenous Epirubicin 75 mg/m2] * 65 +/- 13 L/hour [Patients1 with Solid Tumors Receiving Intravenous Epirubicin 120 mg/m2] * 69 +/- 13 L/hour [Patients1 with Solid Tumors Receiving Intravenous Epirubicin 150 mg/m2]