Valrubicin is a chemotherapy

Chemotherapy

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

 drug

Medication

A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...

 used to treat bladder cancer

Bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is any of several types of malignant growths of the urinary bladder. It is a disease in which abnormal cells multiply without control in the bladder. The bladder is a hollow, muscular organ that stores urine; it is located in the pelvis...

. Valrubicin is a semisynthetic analog of the anthracycline

Anthracycline

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

 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....

, and is administered by infusion directly into the bladder

Urinary bladder

The urinary bladder is the organ that collects urine excreted by the kidneys before disposal by urination. A hollow muscular, and distensible organ, the bladder sits on the pelvic floor...

.

It was originally launched as Valstar in the U.S. in 1999 for intravesical therapy of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-refractory carcinoma in situ

Carcinoma in situ

Carcinoma in situ is an early form of cancer that is defined by the absence of invasion of tumor cells into the surrounding tissue, usually before penetration through the basement membrane. In other words, the neoplastic cells proliferate in their normal habitat, hence the name "in situ"...

 of the urinary bladder

Urinary bladder

The urinary bladder is the organ that collects urine excreted by the kidneys before disposal by urination. A hollow muscular, and distensible organ, the bladder sits on the pelvic floor...

 in patients in whom cystectomy

Cystectomy

Cystectomy is a medical term for surgical removal of all or part of the urinary bladder. It may also be rarely used to refer to the removal of a cyst, or the gallbladder. The most common condition warranting removal of the urinary bladder is bladder cancer. After the bladder has been removed, an...

 would be associated with unacceptable morbidity or mortality

Mortality rate

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time...

; however, it was voluntarily withdrawn in 2002 due to manufacturing issues. Valstar was relaunched on September 3, 2009.

Side effects

• Blood in urine
  Hematuria
  In medicine, hematuria, or haematuria, is the presence of red blood cells in the urine. It may be idiopathic and/or benign, or it can be a sign that there is a kidney stone or a tumor in the urinary tract , ranging from trivial to lethal...
  
  
• Incontinence
  Urinary incontinence
  Urinary incontinence is any involuntary leakage of urine. It is a common and distressing problem, which may have a profound impact on quality of life. Urinary incontinence almost always results from an underlying treatable medical condition but is under-reported to medical practitioners...
  
  
• painful or difficult urination
  Dysuria
  In medicine, specifically urology, dysuria refers to painful urination.Difficult urination is also sometimes described as dysuria.It is one of a constellation of irritative bladder symptoms, which includes urinary frequency and haematuria....
  
  
• Unusually frequent urination