Photopheresis is a new technique recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. It combines oral administration of a photoactivatable cytotoxic drug with leukapheresis and extracorporeal exposure of leukocytes to long-wave ultraviolet light (UVA). This procedure requires use of a 'UVAR Instrument' manufactured by Therakos, a subdivision of Johnson and Johnson.

Recombinant interleukin-2 (IL-2; Proleukin - Cetus), a lymphokine that stimulates growth of T lymphocytes, is available from the National Cancer Institute on an investigational basis for treatment of renal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. Although recently released in many European countries, the drug has not been approved for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Dexrazoxane (Zinecard - Pharmacia) was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for protection against cardiac toxicity from (Adriamycin, and others) in women with metastatic breast cancer.

The FDA has approved the oral poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza – Astra-Zeneca) as monotherapy for treatment of women with advanced ovarian cancer who have BRCA1/2 germline mutations and have received at least 3 prior lines of chemotherapy. Olaparib is the first PARP inhibitor to be approved in the US. It is approved outside the US for maintenance treatment of relapsed BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer.

The FDA has approved lutetium lu 177 vipivotide tetraxetan (Pluvicto – Novartis) for treatment of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) in adults previously treated with androgen receptor (AR) pathway inhibitors and taxane-based chemotherapy.

Cannabis (marijuana) contains more than 60 pharmacologically active cannabinoids; delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the best known. THC is the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis. CBD, unlike THC, does not produce intoxication or euphoria.

Darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp) has been approved by the FDA for treatment of anemia caused by chronic renal disease and will probably also be approved for use in patients with cancer..

Trimetrexate glucuronate (Parke-Davis), an investigational drug, is now available in the USA from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for treatment of selected AIDS patients with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). For this indication, trimetrexate is always used concurrently with leucovorin (Wellcovorin; and others).

Ifosfamide (Ifex - Mead Johnson), a synthetic analog of cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan; and others), has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for concurrent use with other drugs in third-line chemotherapy of metastatic germ-cell testicular cancer. Given concomitantly, a synthetic sulfhydryl compound known as mesna (Mesnex - Asta) acts in the urine to detoxify metabolites of ifosfamide that cause hemorrhagic cystitis (H Burkert, Cancer Treat Rev, 10 suppl A:175, 1983). Ifosfamide and mesna are available together from Bristol-Myers Oncology Division.

BCG Live (TheraCys - Connaught) and BCG Vaccine U.S.P. (TiceBCG - Organon), freeze-dried suspensions of an attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis, were recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for intravesical treatment of primary or relapsed carcinoma in situ of the bladder, with or without associated papillary tumors. BCG is not recommended for treatment of papillary tumors occurring alone.