[New anthracyclines].

Idarubicin showed the superior activity against Acute Non-Lymphocytic Leukemia (ANLL) in the prospective randomized trials comparing to daunorubicin and it is judged that the analog will become the first choice in the treatment on ANLL. Anthracyclines including SM-5887, KRN-8602, ME-2303 under studies in Japan have shown comparable or superior antitumor activities and lower cardiac toxicities compared to doxorubicin in preclinical studies and therefore the results obtained in clinical trials are expected. Phase II trials of anthrapyrazoles which is an analog of mitoxantrone are in progress. Among three compounds entered it is of note that CI-941 has demonstrated an excellent activity against advanced breast cancer.