Advances in antineoplastic therapy

Despite advances in early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, more than a million new cases of cancer will have been diagnosed in 1990, with an estimated 10% mortality within a year of diagnosis. Thus, the search continues for new or improved antineoplastic agents with a wide spectrum of activity and decreased toxicity. The major advances in single-agent antineoplastic drug therapy include the introduction of cisplatin almost 20 years ago and of etoposide (VP-16) in the mid-1980s. However, within the past two years, analogues of existing antineoplastic agents have been purified and marketed. These drugs offer an enhanced therapeutic index when used alone or in combination with other therapies as well as decreased toxicity and, thus, may enhance patient tolerance.