Pingyangmycin

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Pingyangmycin, also known as bleomycin A5, is an anticancer antibiotic in the bleomycin family. It is a glycopeptide produced by a Streptomyces bacterium found in Pingyang County, Zhejiang, China, where it was discovered in 1969 and started to be used in clinics in 1978. In China, it has largely replaced bleomycin A2 because it is more effective, cheaper, easier to obtain, and can treat a wider range of cancers (including breast and liver cancer) with less risk of lung injury. Like other bleomycin drugs, pingyangmycin can cause pulmonary fibrosis, but its most serious risk is anaphylactic shock, which is rare but can be fatal even at low doses. It also causes fever more often than bleomycin, occurring in about 20–50% of patients. Pingyangmycin can be given in several ways: intravenously, intra-arterially, intramuscularly, or injected directly into tumors.