Activity of the dolastatin analogue, LU103793, in malignant melanoma

LU103793, a synthetic analogue of dolastatin 15, showed interesting pre-clinical activity in melanoma xenografts. In this phase II multicentre trial, 80 chemotherapy-naive patients with metastatic melanoma received a total of 218 cycles of treatment. The response rate showed one complete and three partial responses of median duration six months (range 3-9.1). Toxicity was moderate, mostly haematological (neutropenia grade 4 in 16%, grade 3 in 3%). There were no significant problems with hypertension or other non-haematological toxicities.