Vinflunine

Vinflunine is a third-generation member of the vinca alkaloid family with anti-tumour actions. It was first described in 1998 at the Pierre Fabre research center in France. Like other vinca agents, vinflunine is an anti-mitotic agent that induces a cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and promotes cell death via apoptosis . Vinflunine is a microtubule inhibitor that binds to tubulin at or near to the vinca binding sites to inhibits its polymerization into microtubules during cell proliferation . In murine tumors and human tumor xenografts, vinflunine exhibits an antitumor efficacy than Vinorelbine, Vinblastine, and Vincristine .

Having an incidence of 429,700 new cases per year worldwide, urothelial carcinoma of the bladder is one of the most common malignancies that mostly affects individuals aged 50–79 years . Some patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma experience inadequate therapeutic response from a prior platinum-containing regimen. While these patients have a median survival of approximately 4 months and a poor prognosis , there is currently no standard therapy in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma . In 2009, vinflunine was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as a second-line therapy of metastatic and advanced urothelial cancer after failure of platinum-based treatment . Vinflunine ditartrate is an active ingredient in the EMA-authorised product Javlor for intravenous infusion. Efficacy and safety of vinflunine has not been studied in patients with performance status of 2 or less. The clinical use of vinflunine in other urologic malignancies, such as inoperable cancer of the penis, are currently have been investigated .