cyclophosphamide + docetaxel + epirubicin + fluorouracil + gemcitabine

This is a multi-agent chemotherapy regimen composed of five cytotoxic drugs—cyclophosphamide, docetaxel, epirubicin, fluorouracil (5-FU), and gemcitabine. Each component has a distinct mechanism of action targeting rapidly dividing cancer cells. Cyclophosphamide is an alkylating agent that crosslinks DNA; docetaxel is a taxane that stabilizes microtubules and inhibits cell division; epirubicin is an anthracycline that intercalates into DNA and inhibits topoisomerase II; fluorouracil is an antimetabolite that inhibits thymidylate synthase, disrupting DNA synthesis; and gemcitabine is a nucleoside analog that incorporates into DNA, causing chain termination. This combination has been studied primarily in the context of breast cancer—especially high-risk early or metastatic disease—where regimens containing subsets of these agents are standard. The addition of gemcitabine to established regimens (such as FEC followed by docetaxel) has not shown significant improvement in outcomes but increases toxicity[1][5]. There are no widely recognized brand names for this exact five-drug combination.

Brand names

GemzarTaxotere

Other names

5-FU + epirubicin + cyclophosphamide + docetaxel + gemcitabineFEC plus docetaxel and gemcitabine