Chapter 23: Administration of systemic anticancer therapies
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Source: Adapted from Williamson ([270]).
Definition
The term ‘oral anticancer medicine’ is used to refer to drugs with direct antitumour activity, administered via the oral route to cancer patients, including traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy (e.g. capecitabine, vinorelbine), small molecule treatments (e.g. imatinib, erlotinib) and teratogenic agents such as thalidomide. It does not include hormonal therapies such as tamoxifen or anastrazole (BOPA [16], NPSA [167]). See Table 23.4.
Table 23.4 Examples of oral anticancer medications
| Drug class | Drug | Cancers for which drug is used |
|---|---|---|
| Alkylating agent | Busulfan | Leukaemia |
| Chlorambucil | Leukaemia, lymphoma | |
| Cyclophosphamide | Leukaemia, lymphomas, many solid tumours | |
| Lomustine (CCNU) | Lymphoma | |
| Melphalan | Myeloma | |
| Temozolomide | Glioma (brain tumour) | |
| Antimetabolites | Capecitabine | Breast, colorectal, upper gastrointestinal tract |
| Fludarabine | Leukaemia | |
| Mercaptopurine | Leukaemia | |
| Methotrexate | Leukaemia, solid tumours | |
| Tegafur‐uracil | Colorectal cancer | |
| Tioguanine | Leukaemia | |
| Epipodophyllotoxins | Etoposide | Leukaemia, solid tumours (lung, testicular) |
| Tyrosine kinase inhibitors | Afatinib | Lung |
| Ceritinib | Lung cancer | |
| Crizotinib | Lung cancer | |
| Dabrafenib | Melanoma | |
| Dasatinib | Chronic myeloid leukaemia | |
| Erlotinib | Lung cancer | |
| Gefitinib | Lung cancer | |
| Imatinib | Chronic myeloid leukaemia | |
| Lapatinib | Breast cancer | |
| Nilotinib | Chronic myeloid leukaemia | |
| Sorafenib | Renal and liver | |
| Sunitinib | Renal cancer, gastrointestinal stromal tumour | |
| Antitumour antibiotics | Idarubicin | Leukaemia |
| Plant alkaloids | Vinorelbine | Lung and breast |
| Miscellaneous | Hydroxycarbamide | Leukaemia |
| Lenalidomide | Myeloma | |
| Tretinoin | Leukaemia | |
| Thalidomide | Myeloma |
