AZQ therapy in patients with disseminated malignant melanoma

Twenty-eight patients with disseminated malignant melanoma, who had failed prior therapy, were treated with aziridinylbenzoquinone (AZQ) administered on a 5-day I.V. schedule repeated every 4 weeks. The starting doses were 8 or 6 mg/m2/day x 5 days for good-and-poor-risk patients respectively. There were no complete or partial responses among 23 evaluable patients but four patients had stabilization of disease. The dose-limiting toxicity was thrombocytopenia. Other toxicities included weakness, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, dizziness, abdominal pain, and constipation. AZQ, given on a 5-day schedule, is ineffective in the treatment of patients with metastatic malignant melanoma.