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paclitaxel (PNP, Dabur / DO/NDR/02 / PNP, Dabur)

✓ Approved

Fresenius Kabi · TUBB · Small Molecule

What is paclitaxel?

paclitaxel is a small molecule developed by Fresenius Kabi. It is approved for therapeutic indications via injectable (others) or intravenous (iv).

Drug Profile

Brand NamesPNP, Dabur, DO/NDR/02, PNP, Dabur
CompanyFresenius Kabi
Drug ClassSmall Molecule
Molecular TargetTUBB
RouteInjectable (Others), Intravenous (IV)
StatusApproved
Sources: ClinicalTrials.gov, Fresenius Kabi

Mechanism of Action

Molecular Targets

paclitaxel acts on 1 molecular target:

TUBBtubulin beta class I (TUBB1, CSCSC1)
Want deeper analysis?Noah AI can explain complex mechanisms and compare to similar drugs.

Therapeutic Indications

paclitaxel is developed for 4 unique indications across 1 therapeutic area.

Therapeutic AreaConditionPhase
Neoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps)Breast cancer✓ Approved
Neoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps)Non-small cell lung cancer stage IV✓ Approved
Neoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps)Ovarian cancer✓ Approved
Neoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps)Non-small cell lung cancer metastatic✓ Approved

Related Research Articles

PubMedClinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research2026-10-16

Radiotherapy combined with serplulimab, and chemotherapy as first-line treatment for metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a multicenter, single-arm, phase II trial.

Cheng Ke K, Zhang Chenyan C, Liu Jiaxin J, Xu Huanji H et al.

The prognosis for metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) remains dismal. In this multicenter, single-arm, phase II study, we evaluated the combination of serplulimab, gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel, and radiotherapy (ICSBR regimen) as first-line treatment for mPDAC patients (ChiCTR2300073237). Patients with mPDAC were enrolled in the first-line setting. The treatment regimen consisted of serplulimab and gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel administered in 21-day cycles, combined with stereotactic body radiotherapy directed at the primary or metastatic sites during cycle 2. Additionally, comprehensive biomarker analysis was conducted. The primary endpoint was the 6-month progression-free survival (PFS) rate, with a predefined target of 60%. Forty-six patients received at least one dose of treatment. The 6-month PFS rate was 78.3% (95% CI, 67.2%-91.1%). The median PFS and overall survival (OS) were 8.5 months (95% CI, 7.3-12.0 months) and 14.0 months (95% CI, 12.0 months-not reached), respectively. The objective response rate was 73.9% (95% CI, 58.9%-85.7%). The combination treatment was well tolerated, and no treatment-related deaths or unexpected safety signals were observed. Notably, patients with baseline ctDNA negativity achieved a better survival. Moreover, tumor microenvironment (TME) analysis revealed that baseline fibroblast activation protein-positive cancer-associated fibroblast and T-cell proportions in tumor tissue correlated with clinical outcomes, with distinct spatial distribution and interaction tendencies observed among patients with different responses. Overall, the ICSBR regimen demonstrated a promising survival benefit as first-line treatment for mPDAC. Furthermore, ctDNA status and TME analysis highlighted potential markers for guiding precision treatment.

PMID 42886001
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PubMedJournal of clinical medicine2026-10-16

Contemporary Endovascular Treatment of Femoropopliteal Disease: Lesion Preparation, Antiproliferative Therapies, and Emerging Technologies.

Río Solá María Lourdes Del MLD, Fernández Sandra Pérez SP, Asensio Rodríguez Sergio S

Background: Endovascular treatment of femoropopliteal atherosclerotic disease has evolved from plain balloon angioplasty and routine stenting toward lesion-oriented strategies that combine plaque assessment, selective vessel preparation, antiproliferative drug delivery, and provisional scaffolding. The increasing availability of drug-coated balloons, drug-eluting stents, atherectomy, intravascular lithotripsy, intravascular imaging, and sirolimus-based technologies has improved therapeutic options but has also made device selection more complex. Objective: To synthesize comparative evidence and present a practical lesion-oriented framework for selecting vessel preparation, antiproliferative therapy, and selective scaffolding. Methods: A structured narrative review of contemporary evidence was performed, prioritizing randomized controlled trials, head-to-head comparisons, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and consensus documents relevant to femoropopliteal intervention. Results: Lesion morphology-particularly length, chronic total occlusion, calcification pattern, popliteal involvement, and in-stent restenosis-strongly influences procedural strategy and durability. Atherectomy and specialty balloons can optimize acute vessel preparation in selected lesions, although consistent long-term superiority has not been demonstrated. Intravascular lithotripsy has the strongest randomized evidence for heavily calcified lesions, reducing flow-limiting dissection and bailout stenting. Paclitaxel-coated balloons remain a central leave-nothing-behind therapy, with contemporary evidence not confirming the previously proposed late mortality signal. Sirolimus-coated balloons have now entered the field with randomized noninferiority data versus paclitaxel through 2 years. Drug-eluting and other contemporary stents remain important when recoil, dissection, or complex anatomy make a purely scaffold-free strategy unreliable. Conclusions: Contemporary femoropopliteal intervention is best approached as a sequence of lesion characterization, selective preparation, antiproliferative therapy, and selective scaffolding. Treatment should be matched to lesion morphology and the final mechanical result, with focal repair or stenting when dissection or recoil compromises flow.

PMID 42882111
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PubMedbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2026-10-16

ZNF217-USP15 signaling loop regulates oncogenic phenotypes in ovarian cancer cells.

Ogunsanya Ayokunnumi A, Alfaran Fatimah F, Basavarajaiah Swethakumar S, Padmanabhan Achuth A

ZNF217 is an established oncogenic transcription factor that promotes cancer progression and therapeutic resistance; however, the mechanisms regulating ZNF217 protein abundance remain poorly understood. Here, we identify ubiquitin-specific peptidase 15 (USP15) as a critical regulator of ZNF217 stability and define a reciprocal USP15-ZNF217 signaling loop that sustains malignant phenotypes in ovarian cancer. Stable overexpression of ZNF217 in OVCA420 ovarian cancer cells enhanced proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration, invasion, and extracellular matrix adhesion. Notably, ZNF217 overexpression increased USP15 protein abundance without altering USP15 mRNA levels, whereas ZNF217 depletion reduced USP15 protein levels, suggesting post-transcriptional regulation. Conversely, USP15 depletion markedly reduced ZNF217 protein abundance while increasing ZNF217 mRNA levels, indicating that USP15 regulates ZNF217 predominantly at the post-transcriptional level. Proteasome inhibition restored ZNF217 protein levels following USP15 depletion, further demonstrating that USP15 promotes ZNF217 protein stability. Functionally, USP15 depletion in ZNF217-overexpressing ovarian cancer cells suppressed proliferation and multiple metastatic phenotypes, including migration, invasion, extracellular matrix adhesion, anoikis resistance, and multicellular aggregate formation. In vivo, USP15 depletion significantly reduced tumor progression and metastatic burden and prolonged survival in mice bearing ZNF217-driven ovarian tumors. Furthermore, USP15 depletion enhanced the sensitivity of ZNF217-overexpressing cells to carboplatin, paclitaxel, and doxorubicin. Collectively, these findings identify USP15 as an upstream regulator of ZNF217 protein stability and reveal a positive-feedback loop between USP15 and ZNF217 that reinforces oncogenic signaling. Targeting USP15 may therefore represent an indirect therapeutic strategy for suppressing ZNF217-driven ovarian cancer, particularly given the challenges associated with directly targeting oncogenic transcription factors.

PMID 42885365
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PubMedDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)2026-10-16

Can Routine Preoperative Endoscopy and Colonoscopy Be Meaningful for the Surgery and Postoperative Course of Patients with Advanced Ovarian Cancer? A Single-Centre Retrospective Cohort Study.

Doğan Göktürk Han GH, Akpınar Göksever G, Tutal Anıl Doğukan AD, Sağlam Purut Ceren C et al.

Background/Objectives: Bowel resection is often required for complete cytoreduction in advanced ovarian cancer, and some units perform upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and colonoscopy beforehand. We compared the endoscopic biopsy findings with the histopathology of the resected bowel and examined determinants of survival. Methods: Eighty-three consecutive women with FIGO stage III-IV serous ovarian cancer cytoreduced to no macroscopic residual disease between 2015 and 2021 were reviewed retrospectively; all had undergone both examinations and completed adjuvant carboplatin-paclitaxel. Results: Bowel resection was performed in 20 women (24.1%). Serosal involvement was reported in 15 specimens and no tumour in four; mucosal invasion was reported in none (95% CI 0-16.8%). Eighteen patients (21.7%) were biopsied endoscopically; no biopsy was malignant. Over a median follow-up of 72 months, 50 women (60.2%) developed recurrence (28 confirmed histologically and 22 diagnosed from imaging and CA-125; recurrence was ascertained retrospectively, which limits the interpretation of disease-free survival) and 44 (53.0%) died. Recurrence was no more frequent in biopsied than in non-biopsied patients (8/18 vs. 42/65, p = 0.174) or after resection (10/20 vs. 40/63, p = 0.306). Age showed an exploratory association with disease-free (HR 1.03/year, 95% CI 1.00-1.06) and overall survival (HR 1.04, 1.00-1.07). Conclusions: In this cohort, no preoperative endoscopic biopsy was malignant and no resected specimen was reported to show mucosal invasion, supporting a limited role for routine endoscopy in assessing bowel wall involvement; its diagnostic accuracy and its value for excluding a gastrointestinal primary could not be assessed.

PMID 42882378
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PubMedCancers2026-10-16

Treatment-Free Interval as a Prognostic Factor for Survival Outcomes in Patients with Advanced or Recurrent Endometrial Cancer Treated with Pembrolizumab Plus Lenvatinib: A Multi-Institutional Real-World Cohort Study.

Su Chih-Wen CW, Wang Shao-Jing SJ, Shih Yu-Hsiang YH, Lu Ting-Fang TF et al.

Background/Objectives: The treatment-free interval (TFI) predicts benefit from platinum rechallenge in gynecological cancers, but its prognostic value in patients receiving second-line pembrolizumab plus lenvatinib for recurrent endometrial cancer (EC) is unknown. We evaluated whether the TFI is associated with survival and toxicity in this setting. Methods: Using the TriNetX Research Network (122 healthcare organizations, United States and Europe), we identified adults aged 18-90 years with advanced or recurrent EC between January 2018 and June 2026 who received three to six cycles of first-line carboplatin plus paclitaxel, progressed, and then received pembrolizumab plus lenvatinib. Patients were stratified by TFI (<6 months, Cohort 1; ≥6 months, Cohort 2) and matched 1:1 by propensity score. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS), compared using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional-hazards methods; adverse-event risks were exploratory outcomes compared using z-tests for the risk difference, without adjustment for multiple comparisons. Results: Of 420 eligible patients, 119 remained in each cohort after matching, with balanced baseline characteristics. Median OS was 10.0 months in Cohort 1 versus 23.6 months in Cohort 2 (hazard ratio 1.60, 95% confidence interval 1.12-2.29; p = 0.009), and 3-year OS was 32.5% versus 40.5%. Grade 3 anemia occurred earlier and more often in Cohort 1 (hazard ratio 1.74, 95% confidence interval 1.10-2.76; p = 0.017), whereas hypothyroidism was less frequent (31.9% versus 47.1%; p = 0.017); the remaining adverse events did not differ significantly between cohorts. Conclusions: A TFI ≥ 6 months is associated with significantly longer OS and a largely similar toxicity profile. The TFI is a readily available, real-world evidence-based reference for the prognosis and for the comparative adverse-event profile of the two TFI groups in this setting.

PMID 42882771
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PubMedCase reports in oncology2026-10-15

Long-Term Continuation Therapy with Nab-Paclitaxel and Bevacizumab ± Anti-PD-1 in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Case Reports and Mechanistic Insights.

Pan Xiaofen X, Li Xueying X, Liao Jiehao J, Chen Suhua S et al.

The role of nab-paclitaxel in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as long-term continuation therapy remains underexplored, particularly in combination with anti-angiogenic agents and immunotherapy. We present 2 cases of advanced NSCLC achieving prolonged progression-free survival with nab-paclitaxel-based regimens. Case 1 (ALK-positive) received nab-paclitaxel + bevacizumab every 4 weeks for more than 48 months. Case 2 (driver-negative) received nab-paclitaxel + bevacizumab + toripalimab every 6-8 weeks for 24 months. Both patients maintained partial regression of disease, minimal toxicity (no grade, ≥3 adverse events), and preserved quality of life. The literature review highlights synergistic mechanisms of chemotherapy, anti-angiogenesis, and immunotherapy, supported by trials such as IMpower150 and KEYNOTE-407. Low-dose, extended-interval nab-paclitaxel combined with anti-angiogenesis and immunotherapy may offer a feasible maintenance strategy, warranting validation in prospective trials.

PMID 42877861
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