[Analysis of adverse events of amrubicin hydrochloride for pretreated lung cancer patients]

Abstract

Although amrubicin hydrochloride (AMR) has promising activity against pretreated lung cancer, there are few reports on the adverse events of this agent in a clinical practice setting. We analyzed the adverse events experienced in 27 hospitalized patients who had received AMR monotherapy by collecting data from the pharmaceutical management records. Neutropenia was the main hematological toxicity, and 77.8% of patients developed grade 3/4 neutropenia. Neutrophil counts reached the nadir in 9 to 21 (median 14) days and recovered to normal in 14 to 27 (median 20) days. Seven cases experienced febrile neutropenia without any serious sequelae. Grade 2 or worse non-hematological toxicities were fatigue, constipation, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, and pneumonitis. In comparison with the data of pre-marketing clinical trials, constipation was more commonly observed, while nausea/vomiting was less frequent probably due to appropriate preventive antiemetics. Based on these findings, we have created a novel drug information chart for patients and utilized it in pharmaceutical care in our hospital.