[Five-day continuous infusion of vindesine in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer--clinical pharmacokinetics of vindesine].

We administered vindesine (VDS) as a single agent at a dose of 1.2 mg/m2/day for 5 days by continuous infusion in 6 patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer, and studied the pharmacokinetics of VDS. The maximum concentration (Cmax) of VDS was 6.9 ng/ml and the area under the curve (AUC) was 803 ng.hr/ml. The AUC achieved for VDS was 2.5 times higher after continuous infusion than that observed when 3 mg/m2 of VDS was given by bolus iv injection. Among six patients were 2 PR, including one PR achieved using a 5-day continuous infusion of VDS after failure to respond to cisplatin plus VDS (bolus injection). Severe leukopenia was observed, but it was clinically manageable. The AUC exposure of VDS is greater with the longer infusion periods, and this might improve efficacy compared to conventional bolus injection treatments. The need for further studies appears warranted.