# Pirarubicin

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/pirarubicin/  
OnCo record `pirarubicin` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Pirarubicin is a doxorubicin relative developed in Japan and used there and in China for breast cancer, lymphoma, bladder cancer and other tumours, including instillation into the bladder after tumour resection.

## Summary

Pirarubicin (THP) was developed in Japan in the 1980s as a less cardiotoxic anthracycline and is approved in Japan and China for a range of cancers including breast cancer, lymphomas, head and neck, ovarian and bladder cancer, where it is given intravesically after transurethral resection. It has never been approved in the United States or Europe. A current Chinese phase 3 trial tests it as the intravesical comparator in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-16
- Also known as: Pinorubin; THP-adriamycin
- Tags: pipeline; ctgov-ingest
- Modality: Anthracycline (topoisomerase II inhibitor), intravenous or intravesical
- Mechanism: A doxorubicin analogue with a tetrahydropyranyl sugar that enters cells faster and causes less cardiotoxicity in animal models.

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirarubicin
- ClinicalTrials.gov: trials of Pirarubicin: https://clinicaltrials.gov/search?intr=Pirarubicin

## Connected records

- cancers: [Bladder & urothelial cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/urothelial/), [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/)
- technologies: [Cytotoxic chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/)
- targets: [Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A)](https://onco.cc/targets/top2a/)
- trials: [A Study of Intravesical SHR-1501 Combination With BCG Versus Investigator-selected Chemotherapy in Subjects With BCG-unresponsive NMIBC](https://onco.cc/trials/nct07424287/)

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