Hexamethylmelamine (NSC-13875) in the treatment of primary cancer of the lung with metastasis

Seventy patients with primary pulmonary cancer with metastasis received a micronized form of hexamethylmelamine (HXM) (NSC-13875) at dosages of 8 to 12 mg/kg/day given orally. Most patients had some nausea or vomiting but were able to continue the treatment. Aluminum hydroxide and prochlorperazine alleviated the gastrointestinal reactions. At 12 mg/kg/day, one fourth of the patients had leukopenia or thrombocytopenia or both. These were much less frequent with the smaller doses. The counts always increased to normal when treatment was discontinued temporarily. There were no fatal reactions. In one patient with small-cell cancer, all evidence of the cancer completely disappeared. In 12 other patients the tumor decreased 50% or more in size. In 16 additional patients there was less than 50% decrease or no change in the objective evidence of cancer. Response to therapy could not be correlated with sex of the patients or cell type of the pulmonary cancer.