The large and growing family of anthracyclines now includes over 2,000 known analogs. There are several anthracycline anti-cancer drugs, and many of the newer, synthetic versions were developed in the hopes of diminishing the cardiotoxicity while maintaining effectiveness. The following are mostly commonly used in cancer treatment today:
 

• Daunorubicin (Cerubidine, Daunomycin, Rubidomycin): The original anthracycline first developed in Europe.

• Doxorubicin (Adriamycin, Rubex): A cousin to daunorubicin, developed from mutated strain of Streptomyces; it is more commonly used than its progenitor.

• Epirubicin (Ellence, Farmorubicin(e), Farmorubicina, Pharmorubicin): Comparable to Doxorubicin in cancer targets and toxicity.

• Esorubicin: A synthetic derivative of doxorubicin, it may offer slightly less cardiotoxicity but significantly stronger bone marrow suppression, leading to a higher incidence of neutropenia.

• Aclarubicin (Aclacinomycin): Rated as less toxic than Doxorubicin and Daunorubicin.

• Idarubicin (Idamycin, Zavedos): Penetrates cell membranes more efficiently than other anthracycline antibiotic compounds.

• Amrubicin (Calced): A new, synthetic anthracycline, amrubicin has shown stronger anti-cancer activity than conventional anthracyclines without the cumulative cartiotoxicity.^[1] Developed in Japan, its testing and use in the US for small-cell lung cancer (and potentially breast cancer) has been expedited under the FDA's Orphan Drug Designation (Celgene Bio. 2008).

• Pirarubicin: A doxorubicin analog, it appears less cardiotoxic than doxorubicin and has shown in-vitro effectiveness against some doxorubicin-resistant cells.

• Valrubicin (Valstar): A semisynthetic derivative of doxorubicin used to treat bladder cancer. It is converted to N-trifluoroacetyladriamycin within the cell, and prevents the Topo II enzyme from initiating DNA transcription. In addition, accumulation within the cell inhibits protein kinase C. It is less toxic than doxorubicin, though this may be because the drug is delivered directly to the bladder, and very little is metabolized during treatment.
  

Footnote:

[1] 

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