Summary
Ixabepilone has reached the approved stage (maximum clinical phase 4) for at least one indication, so its use in Cancer would be drug repurposing rather than first-in-human development. This does not mean it is approved for Cancer. ClinicalTrials.gov lists 8 registered trials linking Ixabepilone to Cancer: 5 have completed; 3 are terminated, withdrawn, suspended or of unknown status. The most advanced is Phase 3 (NCT00789581). It plans or enrolled 614 participants. Registration activity spans 2000 to 2012. The literature layer holds 13 publications for this pair: 2 Cochrane reviews, 4 meta-analyses, 1 systematic review, 1 randomised controlled trial publication and 5 clinical trial publications. Publication years run from 2007 to 2024. Because at least one synthesis-level source exists (systematic review, meta-analysis or Cochrane review), this pair has been assessed beyond single studies, although the synthesis may concern a different indication.
The RepurpOS disease-intelligence file for Cancer ranks 1226 candidate therapeutics from Open Targets, ChEMBL, DGIdb and PubMed; only a minority carry direct clinical evidence, and this page covers one of those. Spontaneous remission context recorded for the condition: Spontaneous regression is rare (<0.5% of cases); 5-year survival without treatment: <5% for advanced NSCLC; ~20% for stage I-II with surgery.
Evidence table
| Evidence tier | A · Strong |
|---|---|
| Evidence score | 70.0 (trials 20.0, literature 30.0, tier 15, approved bonus 5.0) |
| Registered trials | 8 total: 0 recruiting, 0 active / not yet recruiting, 5 completed, 3 other |
| Linked publications | 13 (5 clinical trial publications, 4 meta-analyses, 2 Cochrane reviews, 1 systematic review, 1 randomised controlled trial publication) |
| Agent type | Drug (Small molecule) |
| Development stage (any indication) | Approved |
| Mechanism / class | Not recorded |
| Data sources | Open Targets, ChEMBL |
How the evidence score is calculated
- Each registered trial scores by status (recruiting / active / enrolling 3, completed 2.5, not yet recruiting 2, unknown 1, terminated / withdrawn / suspended 0.5) plus a phase bonus (phase 3-4 +2, phase 2 +1, phase 1 +0.5). The trial component is capped at 30.
- Each literature item scores by design (Cochrane review 5, meta-analysis 4, systematic review 3, RCT 3, clinical trial publication 2, curated reference 1.5, other PubMed record 1). The literature component is capped at 30.
- The existing evidence tier adds 15 (A / Strong), 10 (B / Moderate), 5 (C / Preliminary) or 0 (D / Anecdotal).
- Agents approved for any indication (max clinical phase 4) add 5, because an approved agent has an established safety profile that lowers the barrier to repurposing trials.
- The score ranks what has been studied, not what works. It does not read effect sizes or directions of effect.
Registered clinical trials
| NCT ID | Title | Status | Phase | Enrolment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCT00789581 | A Randomized Trial of Ixempra Versus Taxol in Adjuvant Therapy of Triple Negative Breast Cancer 2008 | completed | Phase 3 | 614 |
| NCT00182702 | Ixabepilone in Treating Patients With Metastatic, Recurrent, or Unresectable Kidney Cancer 2005 | completed | Phase 2 | 37 |
| NCT00022542 | BMS-247550 in Treating Patients With Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma 2001 | terminated | Phase 2 | 26 |
| NCT02067416 | PREDATOR: Neoadjuvant Gene Prediction for Breast Cancer 2012 | withdrawn | Phase 2 | — |
| NCT00020371 | BMS-247550 in Treating Patients With Cancers That Have Not Responded to Previous Therapy 2000 | completed | Phase 1 | — |
| NCT00207090 | Effect of Rifampin on the Pharmacokinetics of Ixabepilone in Patients With Advanced Cancer 2005 | completed | Phase 1 | 19 |
| NCT00025194 | Ixabepilone With or Without Estramustine in Treating Patients With Progressive Prostate Cancer 2001 | completed | PHASE1, PHASE2 | — |
| NCT01079793 | Radiation Therapy and Ixabepilone in Treating Patients With High-Risk Stage III Prostate Cancer After Surgery 2010 | withdrawn | PHASE1, PHASE2 | — |
Published literature
- Meta-analysis Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy for first-line treatment of advanced triple-negative breast cancerHaiderali A, Huang M, Pan W et al. · Future oncology (London, England) · 2024 · PMID 38597713
- Clinical trial publication Treatment With Etirinotecan Pegol for Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer and Brain Metastases: Final Results From the Phase 3 ATTAIN Randomized Clinical TrialTripathy D, Tolaney SM, Seidman AD et al. · JAMA oncology · 2022 · PMID 35552364
- Clinical trial publication Randomised phase II trial of weekly ixabepilone ± biweekly bevacizumab for platinum-resistant or refractory ovarian/fallopian tube/primary peritoneal cancerRoque DM, Siegel ER, Buza N et al. · British journal of cancer · 2022 · PMID 35149854
- Clinical trial publication A Phase II Study of the Efficacy and Safety of Chloroquine in Combination With Taxanes in the Treatment of Patients With Advanced or Metastatic Anthracycline-refractory Breast CancerAnand K, Niravath P, Patel T et al. · Clinical breast cancer · 2021 · PMID 34159901
- Cochrane review Network meta-analysis of eribulin versus other chemotherapies used as second- or later-line treatment in locally advanced or metastatic breast cancerZhao Q, Hughes R, Neupane B et al. · BMC cancer · 2021 · PMID 34193107
- Clinical trial publication A Pharmacogenetic Prediction Model of Progression-Free Survival in Breast Cancer using Genome-Wide Genotyping Data from CALGB 40502 (Alliance)Rashkin SR, Chua KC, Ho C et al. · Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2019 · PMID 30260474
- Clinical trial publication UCBG 2-08: 5-year efficacy results from the UNICANCER-PACS08 randomised phase III trial of adjuvant treatment with FEC100 and then either docetaxel or ixabepilone in patients with early-stage, poor prognosis breast cancerCampone M, Lacroix-Triki M, Roca L et al. · European journal of cancer (Oxford, England : 1990) · 2018 · PMID 30267987
- Randomized controlled trial Efficacy and Safety of Ixabepilone and Capecitabine in Patients With Advanced Triple-negative Breast Cancer: a Pooled Analysis From Two Large Phase III, Randomized Clinical TrialsRugo HS, Roche H, Thomas E et al. · Clinical breast cancer · 2018 · PMID 30153978
- Meta-analysis Systematic review of ixabepilone for treating metastatic breast cancerLi J, Ren J, Sun W · Breast cancer (Tokyo, Japan) · 2017 · PMID 27491426
- Meta-analysis Chemotherapy with or without estramustine for treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysisQin Z, Li X, Zhang J et al. · Medicine · 2016 · PMID 27684806
- Systematic review Use of Cytotoxic Chemotherapy in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Putting Taxanes in PerspectiveSachdev JC, Jahanzeb M · Clinical breast cancer · 2016 · PMID 26603443
- Cochrane review Ixabepilone plus capecitabine with capecitabine alone for metastatic breast cancerLi L, Li J, Yang K et al. · Future oncology (London, England) · 2010 · PMID 20146579
- Meta-analysis Addition of estramustine to chemotherapy and survival of patients with castration-refractory prostate cancer: a meta-analysis of individual patient dataFizazi K, Le Maitre A, Hudes G et al. · The Lancet. Oncology · 2007 · PMID 17942366
Mechanism and notes
No mechanism of action is recorded for this pair in the source databases.
OSMF's existing evidence tier for this pair is A (Strong), derived from the strength of the disease association recorded in Open Targets and ChEMBL. The tier describes how well the drug-disease link is documented, not how well the drug works.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ixabepilone approved for Cancer?
Ixabepilone has reached the approved stage (maximum clinical phase 4) for at least one indication, so its use in Cancer would be drug repurposing rather than first-in-human development. This does not mean it is approved for Cancer. Approval status for the specific indication should always be confirmed with the relevant regulator and prescribing information.
Is Ixabepilone in clinical trials for Cancer?
ClinicalTrials.gov lists 8 registered trials linking Ixabepilone to Cancer: 5 have completed; 3 are terminated, withdrawn, suspended or of unknown status. The most advanced is Phase 3 (NCT00789581). It plans or enrolled 614 participants. Registration activity spans 2000 to 2012.
What does the evidence show for Ixabepilone in Cancer?
Ixabepilone has both completed registered trials and synthesis-level publications linked to Cancer. That is the strongest profile in this database, but the summaries here do not extract effect sizes, so read the linked reviews for direction and magnitude of benefit. OSMF's existing evidence tier for this pair is A (Strong), derived from the strength of the disease association recorded in Open Targets and ChEMBL. The tier describes how well the drug-disease link is documented, not how well the drug works.
Cite this page
Data: ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed, Open Targets, ChEMBL, DGIdb and the OSMF therapeutic agent database. Last updated 2026-07-05. Page built 2026-10-07.