Dexrazoxane
Encyclopedia
Dexrazoxane hydrochloride (Zinecard by Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...

 in USA and Canada; Cardioxane by Novartis
Novartis
Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...

 for EU and other countries) is a cardioprotective agent.

Uses

It is used to protect the heart
Heart
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...

 against the cardiotoxic side effects of anthracycline
Anthracycline
Anthracyclines are a class of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy derived from Streptomyces bacterium Streptomyces peucetius var...

s, such as doxorubicin
Doxorubicin
Doxorubicin INN is a drug used in cancer chemotherapy. It is an anthracycline antibiotic, closely related to the natural product daunomycin, and like all anthracyclines, it works by intercalating DNA....

.

FDA has also approved a dexrazoxane hydrochloride drug, brand name Totect or Savene (developed by TopoTarget
TopoTarget
TopoTarget is an international biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of drugs and therapies to treat cancer. While the company has offices around the world, its headquarters are based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 2000 by a group of clinicians.TopoTarget is...

), for use as a treatment of extravasation
Extravasation
Extravasation is the accidental administration of intravenously infused medicinal drugs into the surrounding tissue, either by leakage , or direct exposure...

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

 chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....

. Extravasation is an adverse event
Adverse event
An adverse event is any adverse change in health or side effect that occurs in a person who participates in a clinical trial while the patient is receiving the treatment or within a previously specified period of time after the treatment has been completed.AEs in patients participating in...

 in which chemotherapies containing anthracylines leak out of the blood vessel and necrotize the surrounding tissue.

Mechanism

As a derivative of EDTA
EDTA
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, widely abbreviated as EDTA , is a polyamino carboxylic acid and a colourless, water-soluble solid. Its conjugate base is named ethylenediaminetetraacetate. It is widely used to dissolve limescale. Its usefulness arises because of its role as a hexadentate ligand...

, dexrazoxane chelates iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

, thus reduce the number of metal ions complexed with anthracycline and, consequently, decrease the formation of superoxide radicals. It was speculated that dexrazoxane could be used for futher investigation to synthesize new antimalarial drugs.
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