Early evaluation of liposomal daunorubicin (DaunoXome, Nexstar) in the treatment of relapsed and refractory lymphoma.

We have treated 19 patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma with liposomally encapsulated daunorubicin (DaunoXome) at two dose schedules; 40 mg/m2 repeated every 14 days and 120 mg/m2 repeated every 21 days. Non-haematological toxicity was mild, in particular, no patient treated with the higher dose schedule showed clinical deterioration in cardiac function. At the lower dose (10 patients) no objective responses were seen but at the higher dose (9 patients) one complete response and two partial responses were achieved. Liposomal daunorubicin at 120 mg/m2 appears to have some activity against refractory lymphoma and we suggest that further studies with this agent are required.