Skip to content
Bending the Curve Trial by Trial
?

Microtubule-targeting agentsUsed in a few countriesDerivative of an earlier drugNeeds review

Vinflunine

Also known as Javlor

A fluorinated semisynthetic vinca alkaloid given by infusion. The EU authorisation of 2009 covers monotherapy for adults with advanced or metastatic transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelial tract after a platinum-containing regimen.

From discovery to approval

  1. 1998 · Earliest report found

    A 1998 paper describes vinflunine as a vinca alkaloid synthesised from vinorelbine using superacidic chemistry. A 2001 review adds that it is fluorinated in a little-exploited region of the catharanthine part. The synthesis itself is not dated by a source read.[1][2][3]

  2. 2009-09-21 · EMA regular

    In monotherapy, adult patients with advanced or metastatic transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelial tract after failure of a prior platinum-containing regimen (EMEA/H/C/000983). The European Commission granted the authorisation on 21 September 2009 according to the EPAR summary, which has no conditional or exceptional-circumstances wording; the type regular is an inference from that absence.[4]

How it works

A 1998 study found it causes G2 plus M arrest with accumulation of cells in mitosis, shrinks the interphase microtubule network, and inhibits microtubule assembly at micromolar concentrations. It appears to act at the vinca binding domain but binds tubulin more weakly than the other vinca alkaloids tested.[1]

Where it came from and why

No source read says why vinflunine was made. The 1998 paper characterises it as having superior in vivo activity to vinorelbine in preclinical tumour models, and the 2001 review adds that it is a weaker substrate for P-glycoprotein and a less potent inducer of resistance than vinorelbine.

Cancers

  • Transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelial tract

    The EU authorisation covers adults with advanced or metastatic transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelial tract when previous treatment with a platinum-containing medicine has failed.[4]

  • Urothelial carcinoma after platinum (phase III trial)

    A randomised phase III trial in advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelial tract that had progressed after a first-line platinum-containing regimen assigned 370 patients to vinflunine plus best supportive care or best supportive care alone.[5]

Family and partners

Derived from: Vinorelbine

Worth knowing

  • In the phase III trial the difference in median overall survival, 6.9 against 4.6 months, was not statistically significant in the intention-to-treat population (hazard ratio 0.88, 95% CI 0.69 to 1.12); an analysis adjusted for prognostic factors gave a hazard ratio of 0.77 (95% CI 0.61 to 0.98), and in the eligible population (357 patients) the median was 6.9 against 4.3 months.[5]
  • The EMA summary for the public says there was no clear evidence of a survival difference among all patients in the main study, but a difference among those who met strict entry criteria, of 6.9 months with Javlor against 4.3 months without.[4]
  • The 1998 study ranked the vinca alkaloids by ability to bind or interfere with binding to tubulin as vincristine, vinblastine, vinorelbine, then vinflunine.[1]
  • A 2013 review states that vinflunine is a synthetic vinca alkaloid approved in Europe for second-line treatment of transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelium.[6]

References

  1. Kruczynski A, Barret JM, Etiévant C, Colpaert F, Fahy J, Hill BT. Antimitotic and tubulin-interacting properties of vinflunine, a novel fluorinated Vinca alkaloid. Biochem Pharmacol. 1998;55(5):635-48. PubMedDOI
  2. Kruczynski A, Hill BT. Vinflunine, the latest Vinca alkaloid in clinical development. A review of its preclinical anticancer properties. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2001;40(2):159-73. PubMedDOI
  3. Fahy J, Hellier P, Breillout F, Bailly C. Vinflunine: discovery and synthesis of a novel microtubule inhibitor. Semin Oncol. 2008;35(3 Suppl 3):S3-5. PubMedDOI
  4. European Medicines Agency. Javlor (vinflunine): EPAR summary for the public, EMA/448090/2012 (EMEA/H/C/000983); the document says it was last updated in 07-2012. Read 2026-10-29. Source
  5. Bellmunt J, Théodore C, Demkov T, Komyakov B, Sengelov L, Daugaard G, et al. Phase III trial of vinflunine plus best supportive care compared with best supportive care alone after a platinum-containing regimen in patients with advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelial tract. J Clin Oncol. 2009;27(27):4454-61. PubMedDOI
  6. Moudi M, Go R, Yien CY, Nazre M. Vinca alkaloids. Int J Prev Med. 2013;4(11):1231-5. PubMed
  7. Frampton JE, Moen MD. Vinflunine. Drugs. 2010;70(10):1283-93. PubMedDOI
  8. European Medicines Agency. Javlor (vinflunine): EPAR product page (EMEA/H/C/000983); page shows last update 16 July 2025. Read 2026-10-29. Source