FLAVONE ACETIC-ACID (FAA) WITH RECOMBINANT INTERLEUKIN-2 (RIL-2) IN ADVANCED MALIGNANT MELANOMA-IV - PHARMACOKINETICS AND TOXICITY OF FLAVONE ACETIC-ACID AND ITS METABOLITES

Flavone acetic acid (FAA) was administered at a dose of 4.8 g m-2 over 1 h to patients with advanced malignant disease in combination with I nterleukin II. A new high performance liquid chromatography method is described to determine both the parent compound and eight drug-related products, and the conditions required to determine these components i n plasma are discussed. The half-life over the first 8 h was 2.3 h, bu t the terminal clearance of the drug was extremely slow. Severe (WHO G rade 4) hypotension was observed in some patients. However, incidence of this did not appear to be associated with any differences in FAA pl asma concentrations, nor were there differences in FAA clearance betwe en those patients whose tumour responded to the drug combination and t hose who did not.