Cooperative study of therapy of superficial bladder cancer by intravesical instillation of pirarubicin.

Intravesical instillation therapy with (2"R)-4'-O-tetrahydropyranyl adriamycin [pirarubicin (THP)], a new anthracycline agent, was performed to examine its direct effect on superficial bladder cancer in a six-center cooperative Phase II study. There were 50 evaluable cases, for which a response rate of 50% was obtained. The main side effects that occurred were bladder irritation symptoms such as pollakisuria (50%) and pain on urination (38%). Intravesical pirarubicin instillation therapy was administered to eight cases that had not responded to doxorubicin therapy or that had experienced recurrence after such therapy. For six evaluable cases, the response rate was 50%, and the incidence of side effects was 88%.