The difference between the four paclitaxel drugs

Paclitaxel drugs have been considered the first-line treatment for breast cancer, and are widely used clinically for ovarian cancer, lung cancer, head and neck tumors, oesophageal cancer, gastric cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. In recent years, through continuous exploration of paclitaxel drugs and continuous improvement of the formulation process, these drugs now mainly include paclitaxel injection, docetaxel (docetaxel), liposomal paclitaxel and albumin-bound paclitaxel. So what are the differences between these paclitaxel drugs, let’s learn more about them below.

The difference between the four paclitaxel drugs

I. Differences in basic functions

1. Paclitaxel injection: It is indicated for the first-line and follow-up treatment of progressive ovarian cancer, adjuvant treatment of lymph node-positive breast cancer after a standard regimen of adriamycin-containing combination chemotherapy, breast cancer in metastatic breast cancer that has failed combination chemotherapy or relapsed within 6 months of adjuvant chemotherapy, first-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, and second-line treatment of AIDS patient-associated carcinosarcoma.

2. Docetaxel: For the treatment of advanced or metastatic breast cancer that has failed prior chemotherapy; for the treatment of advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer that has failed with cisplatin-based chemotherapy. It is also effective for gastric cancer and prostate cancer.

3. Liposomal paclitaxel: It can be used as first-line chemotherapy for ovarian cancer and first-line chemotherapy for the treatment of ovarian metastatic cancer, and can also be used in combination with cisplatin. It can also be used for the follow-up treatment of breast cancer patients who have been treated with standard chemotherapy containing adriamycin or for the treatment of patients with recurrence. It can also be used in combination with cisplatin as first-line chemotherapy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer who cannot be treated with surgery or radiotherapy.

4. Albumin-bound paclitaxel: indicated for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer that has failed combination chemotherapy or for breast cancer that has recurred within 6 months after adjuvant chemotherapy. Unless there is a clinical contraindication, previous chemotherapy should include an anthracycline anticancer agent.

II. Differences in drug safety

1. Paclitaxel: poor water solubility. Generally, the injection will add the surfactants polyoxyethylene-substituted castor oil and ethanol to improve the solubility of paclitaxel in water, but histamine is released when polyoxyethylene-substituted castor oil is degraded in vivo, which can lead to serious allergic reactions and can also aggravate the peripheral neurotoxicity of paclitaxel, and can also affect the diffusion of drug molecules to tissues and affect the anti-tumor effect.

2. Docetaxel: water solubility is low, and it needs to be solubilized by adding polysorbate 80 and anhydrous ethanol, both of which can increase the occurrence of adverse reactions and can cause allergic and hemolytic reactions.

3. Liposomal paclitaxel: the drug is encapsulated in lipid-like bilayers to form miniature vesicles, and the drug is encapsulated in liposomal particles without polyoxyethylene-substituted castor oil and anhydrous ethanol, which cause allergic reactions. However, studies have shown that the paclitaxel drug itself can also cause hypersensitivity reactions, but at a lower rate compared to paclitaxel injection. At present, paclitaxel liposomes still require allergy pretreatment treatment before use.

4. Albumin-bound paclitaxel: A new paclitaxel albumin lyophilized agent using human albumin as the drug carrier and stabilizer, which does not contain the co-solvent polyoxyethylene-substituted castor oil and has a relatively low paclitaxel content with paclitaxel liposomes, and does not require pretreatment before treatment.

Note: The potential efficacy and applications covered in this presentation are taken from published literature.

Yunnan Hande Biotechnology Co., Ltd has been specializing in the production of paclitaxel API for more than 20 years, and is one of the world’s independent manufacturers of paclitaxel API, a plant-derived anti-cancer drug, approved by the US FDA, European EDQM, Australian TGA, Chinese CFDA, India, Japan and other national regulatory agencies. Hande can provide not only high-quality paclitaxel raw materials, but also technical upgrade services related to paclitaxel formulation. For more information, please feel free to contact us at 18187887160.


Post time: Dec-08-2022