Deoxycoformycin in the treatment of leukemias and lymphomas.

A new cytotoxic drug, 2'-deoxycoformycin, has been shown to be highly active in the treatment of lymphocytic leukemias and lymphomas, particularly T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in which the drug, used as a single agent, can induce CRs in patients who have failed to respond to a wide variety of other compounds. Further work is required to elucidate the cause of the renal failure that has occurred in some patients, but prescribed within the dose range of the patients reported in this paper, toxicity is acceptable in consideration of the results achieved and the prognosis of this highly malignant group of diseases.