Vinflunine -: Antimitotic -: Vinca alkaloid

Vinflunine is a second-generation Vinca alkaloid distinguished from other related compounds by differences in tubulin binding affinities and its effects upon microtubule dynamics. Although in vitro studies have demonstrated that vinflunine is consistently the least potent of the Vinca alkaloids, in vivo studies in a range of transplantable murine and human tumor models in mice have shown that vinflunine was markedly superior to vinorelbine and the other Vinca alkaloids in terms of increase in life span and inhibition of tumor growth. The potential of vinflunine as a component of combination chemotherapy has also been demonstrated. Preliminary evidence from phase I and phase II studies indicated that vinflunine was a promising anticancer agent with manageable toxicity, at least comparable in efficacy to the most active currently available agents. Antitumor activity has been observed in patients with advanced transitional cell cancer of the bladder, metastatic breast cancer and non-small cell lung Cancer. Phase III trials are ongoing in non-small cell lung and bladder cancer, with programs planned in advanced breast cancer and ovarian cancer.