Plasma concentrations of carminomycin and carminomycinol in man, measured by high pressure liquid chromatography.

In 9 patients with advanced malignant disease who received carminomycin (CMM) in an i.v. bolus injection (dose 18 mg/m2), curves of plasma concentrations of CMM and carminomycinol (CMMOH), a metabolite, versus time were constructed. For determination of plasma concentrations, high pressure liquid chromatography was used. For CMM and CMMOH the median areas under the curves (AUC's) were 31 (range 4-57) X 10(-8) mol/Ql/hr (measured over 24 hr) and 100 (range 309-158) X 10(-8) mol/l/hr (measured over 48 hr) respectively. From the data an accumulation of CMMOH in patients receiving treatments separated by brief intervals ban be predicted (half-life time of plasma disappearance for CMMOH was 2 days). Clinical toxicity was lowest in those 3 patients showing the lowest AUC for both CMM and CMMOH.