• Deborah Mukherji and Ruth Pettengell.
• St Georges Hospital, Blackshaw Road, Tooting, London SW170QT, UK.
• Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2010 Aug 1; 11 (11): 1915-23.

Importance Of The FieldAt present there is no standard treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who progress following second-line therapy. Anthracyclines are highly active drugs, but their use in this setting is limited by cumulative cardiac toxicity. Pixantrone is a new aza-anthracenedione structurally similar to mitoxantrone and anthracyclines. This compound has been developed to minimize cardiac toxicity without reducing efficacy.Areas Covered In This ReviewThis review summarizes the preclinical and clinical trial data for the use of pixantrone for the treatment of aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.What The Reader Will GainAn overview of the mechanism of action of pixantrone, preclinical data, clinical efficacy, safety data and future developments for this compound.Take Home MessagePixantrone has been shown to be superior to other single-agent therapies for the salvage treatment of relapsed/refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The pixantrone application will be submitted to the regulatory authorities in the USA and in Europe.

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