Antitumoral effect and reduced systemic toxicity in mice after intra-tumoral injection of an in vivo solidifying calcium sulfate formulation with docetaxel.

Background: Docetaxel is a cytostatic agent approved for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer as well as other cancers. Although docetaxel is an effective cytostatic agent, its effectiveness in clinical practice is associated with a variety of acute and long term side-effects. To overcome systemic side-effects, a slow release formulation based on calcium sulfate with docetaxel for intra-tumoral administration was developed.