[Phase I clinical study of zinostatin stimalamer (YM 881) by intravenous injection]

A phase I clinical study by intravenous injection of zinostatin stimalamer (YM 881), a protein anti-cancer drug, was conducted in 50 patients with malignant tumors. The initial dose was 0.5 mg/m2 (n) in the single dose test, and 0.2 mg/m2/day in the repeated dose test for 5 successive days. Doses were increased up to 12n according to the modified Fibonacci's method in both the single and repeated dose tests. The dose limiting factor was thrombopenia in both the single and repeated dose tests. The maximum tolerated dose was 6.0 mg/m2 (12n) in the single dose test, and the subtoxic dose was 2.4 mg/m2/day in the five day repeated dose study. These results indicate that dose of 1.0 to 1.4 mg/m2/day (5 n to 7 n) are appropriate for the phase II repeated dose study.