Chemotherapy Drugs for Ovarian Cancer
There are several chemotherapy drugs to choose from. Your doctor may recommend more than one at the same time. This is called combination chemotherapy. Sometimes this works better. The following drugs are typically used to treat ovarian cancer. They may be used alone or in combination.
- Platinum agents such as Paraplatin (carboplatin and cisplatin). These are the drugs doctors most often use to treat ovarian cancer. They work by creating breaks in the genetic material—DNA—inside each cell. This leads to cell death.
- Taxanes such as Taxol (paclitaxel) and Taxotere (docetaxel). These keep cells from dividing. This class of drugs is used in combination with cisplatin or carboplatin.
- Anthracyclines such as Adriamycin (doxorubicin) and Doxil (liposomal doxorubicin). These drugs are often used if cancer comes back. When cancer comes back, it is called recurrence.
- Additional drugs. Other drugs often used at the time of recurrence are gemcitabine and topotecan.