New drugs for treating small cell lung cancer.

Recently there has been a number of new active drugs which have been identified for treating patients with SCLC. These drugs include paclitaxel, docetaxel, CPT-11, topotecan and gemcitabine. The range of response rates are as follows for each of the drugs given: (1) to previously untreated patients: paclitaxel (34-41%), topotecan (39%) and gemcitabine (30%), and (2) to previously treated patients: docetaxel (28%), CPT-11 (47%) and topotecan (35%). Further studies with these new drugs utilized in combination chemotherapeutic regimens are needed to define the role of these agents in the treatment of patients with SCLC.