Amrubicin is an anthracycline

Anthracycline

Anthracyclines are a class of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy derived from Streptomyces bacterium Streptomyces peucetius var...

 used in the treatment of lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

. It is marketed in Japan since 2002 by Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Calsed.

Amrubicin acts by inhibiting topoisomerase II, and has been compared in clinical trials with topotecan

Topotecan

Topotecan hydrochloride is a chemotherapy agent that is a topoisomerase I inhibitor. It is the water-soluble derivative of camptothecin...

, a Topoisomerase I inhibitor.

It has also been studied for the treatment of bladder carcinoma and gastric cancer.