Investigations of Tritiated Menadiol Sodium Diphosphate (T-MNDP) as a Radioactive Drug

An attempt has been made to develop tritiated derivatives of Synkavit (menadiol sodium diphosphate, MNDP) of high specific activity as a radioactive drug. This paper summarizes the preliminary biological and physical studies, with emphasis on approximate radiation dosimetry and the necessary preliminary testing, and then gives an account of the clinical investigations and the trials carried out so far, which correspond essentially to Phases I and II trials for a chemotherapeutic agent. In all, 214 patients with different sites and types of advanced and recurrent, inoperable, histologically verified malignant tumours including reticuloses have been treated with doses of at least 1 Ci of the various preparations. Among the 203 evaluable treated cases, some form of response was observed in 23 out of 151 (15·2%) receiving the drug by intravenous injections and 13 out of 52 (25%) after intra-arterial injections. For the sites and types of malignant diseases which showed responses after either intravenous or intra-arterial administration among the 55 patients surviving at least 3 months after the first injection, some form of response was observed in 32 but only 5 of these showed either a “complete” or a “partial” response. It is concluded that further investigation is desirable. It is suggested that clinical trials with randomization should be carried out for inoperable cases of carcinoma of the colon and of the pancreas.