An overview of doxorubicin formulations in cancer therapy

The burden of cancer is continuously increasing, and is rapidly becoming a global pandemic. The first liposomal encapsulated anticancer drug which received clinical approval against malignancies including solid tumours, transplantable leukemias and lymphomas was Doxorubicin HCl. This review is aimed at providing an overview of doxorubicin in cancer therapy. Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin has a polyethylene glycol (PEG) layer around doxorubicin-containing liposome as the result of a process known as pegylation. Non-pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (NPLD) was developed to overcome the drawbacks associated with previous formulations. Nudoxa(;) (NPLD) with its unique drug delivery system offers the benefit of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin without hand foot syndrome as the major side effect. Future studies will be directed towards estimating the costs of treatment with the novel liposomal doxorubicin formulations in order to assess their widespread use and robustness in treating patients with cancer.