Aldoxorubicin
Aldoxorubicin is doxorubicin, the workhorse chemotherapy nicknamed the red devil, attached to a linker that hitches it to the body's own albumin so more reaches the tumour and less reaches the heart; it beat doxorubicin in a randomised phase 2 sarcoma trial but missed the primary endpoint of its phase 3, and a new company is now trying to finish its development.
Overview
Aldoxorubicin was invented by Felix Kratz at the Tumor Biology Center in Freiburg and developed by CytRx. In a randomised phase 2b trial of 140 patients with previously untreated advanced soft tissue sarcoma, it improved progression-free survival over doxorubicin (median 5.6 versus 2.7 months) and allowed cumulative doxorubicin-equivalent doses far above the usual cardiac ceiling. The 433-patient phase 3 trial in relapsed soft tissue sarcoma compared it with investigator's choice of dacarbazine, pazopanib, gemcitabine with docetaxel, doxorubicin or ifosfamide and did not meet its primary progression-free survival endpoint, and CytRx licensed the drug to ImmunityBio in 2017, which has tested it with its IL-15 agonist in pancreatic cancer. Gemini Therapeutics, formed after the GitLab co-founder Sid Sijbrandij was treated with doxorubicin for osteosarcoma, took up the programme and presented integrated analyses at ASCO 2026 reporting higher tumour exposure than doxorubicin and better preserved cardiac function across the randomised sarcoma studies. It is not approved anywhere.
Doxorubicin joined through an acid-sensitive hydrazone linker to a maleimide that bonds covalently to circulating albumin within minutes of injection; albumin carries the drug into tumours, where the acidic microenvironment and lysosomes cleave the linker and release doxorubicin, keeping free doxorubicin in the blood and heart low. Connects to Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A).
1.Aldoxorubicin slips into a pocket on Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A).
- AmivantamabApproved
- CamizestrantApproved
- Comprehensive genomic profilingStandard of care
- Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)Standard of care
- LorlatinibApproved
- MRD / molecular residual disease testingEstablished
- ADC payload neutralisersPhase 1
- BGB-16673Phase 3
- Bispecific ADCPhase 3
- BRUIN CLL-321Positive
- CaDAnCe-304Recruiting
- CIRCULATE-Japan (GALAXY / VEGA / ALTAIR)Active
- A clone report from blood at every treatment cycle
- A fast route to the matched drug when it is licensed for another cancer
- A multi-cancer platform trial of adaptive (dose-holiday) therapy
- A national rapid research autopsy network for end-stage cancer
- A standard evolvability score for every tumour
- A standing platform trial that assigns treatment by how the tumour escaped
Background: ADC sequencing, Antigen escape (antigen loss, lineage switch), BCG-unresponsive, Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA). Also on OnCo: Resistance atlas · Lines of therapy.
Trials
topTrials recruiting now
Country and place are remembered in this browser only. A postcode is sent to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service to find coordinates when you press the button; nothing else leaves your device.
Landmark trials
Latest papers
topQuery for this drug: (TITLE:"Aldoxorubicin" OR ABSTRACT:"Aldoxorubicin" OR TITLE:"INNO-206" OR ABSTRACT:"INNO-206" OR TITLE:"DOXO-EMCH" OR ABSTRACT:"DOXO-EMCH" OR TITLE:"Aldox" OR ABSTRACT:"Aldox") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Aldoxorubicin, not a curated reading list.
Similar pages
not linked directly; found by shared links- TrialTazemetostat with doxorubicin as front-line therapy for advanced epithelioid sarcoma (EZH-301 run-in)
Shares Doxorubicin and the tag owner-request.
- TrialZEN-3694 with platinum chemotherapy in NUT carcinoma (NCI phase 1/2)
Shares Cytotoxic chemotherapy and the tag owner-request.
- TreatmentAnetumab ravtansine
Shares Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and the tag owner-request.
- TreatmentPixantrone
Shares Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A), Doxorubicin, Cytotoxic chemotherapy.
- TreatmentTeniposide
Shares Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A), Cytotoxic chemotherapy.
- TreatmentStreptozocin
Shares Doxorubicin, Cytotoxic chemotherapy, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
- TreatmentPirarubicin
Shares Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A), Cytotoxic chemotherapy.
- TreatmentAmsacrine
Shares Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A), Cytotoxic chemotherapy.