Vinorelbine (Navelbine®) is a chemotherapy drug that is given as a treatment for some types of cancer, including breast cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer.

Pharmacology

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Vinorelbine is a vinca alkaloid. It is obtained by semi-synthesis from alkaloids extracted from the rosy periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus.

History

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Vinorelbine was invented in the 1980s by scientists at the pharmaceutical arm of the Pierre Fabre Group. The drug was approved in France in 1989 under the brand name Navelbine for the treatment of bronchial cancer. It gained approval to treat non-small cell lung cancer in 1991. The drug is now primarily used to treat this cancer. Vinorelbine received FDA approval in December 1994 sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline. The drug went generic in the US in February 2003.

Side-effects

Vinorelbine has a number of side-effects that can limit its use:

Lowered resistance to infection, bruising or bleeding, anaemia, constipation, diarrhoea, nausea, numbness or tingling in hands or feet (peripheral neuropathy), tiredness and a general feeling of weakness (asthenia), inflammation of the injected vein (phlebitis).

Less common effects are hair loss, allergic reaction.

Chemotherapeutic agents

Vinorelbin | Winorelbina