Adriamycin, bleomycin, and CCNU as effective induction chemotherapeutic agents in advanced squamous cell carcinoma (COG Protocol 7333).

Twenty-six member institutions of the Central Oncology Group entered 154 patients in this two-armed, phase III study comparing the effects of adriamycin, bleomycin, and CCNU against a variety of squamous cell carcinomas. The combination of adriamycin and bleomycin produced a 43% overall response rate in primary tumors of the head and neck, which included two complete responses. This compares favorably to the results obtained with methotrexate and other agents previously reported. The combination of adriamycin and bleomycin will probably be the most useful for induction chemotherapy because both drugs have cumulative toxicities and the duration of response to this combination is short.