altretamine

Altretamine (trade name Hexalen), also called hexamethylmelamine, is an antineoplastic agent. It was approved by the U.S. FDA in 1990. Uses It is indicated for use as a single agent in the palliative treatment of patients with persistent or recurrent ovarian cancer following first-line therapy with cisplatin and/or alkylating agent-based combination. It is not considered a first-line treatment, but it can be useful as salvage therapy. It also has the advantage of being less toxic than other drugs used for treating refractory ovarian cancer. Mechanism The precise mechanism by which altretamine exerts its anti-cancer effect is unknown but it is classified by MeSH as an alkylating antineoplastic agent.