Bendamustine is a bifunctional alkylating agent with cytotoxic activity against human ovarian and breast cancers in vitro. It shows only partial in vitro cross-resistance with cyclophosphamide, melphalan, carmustine and cisplatin. Bendamustine as monotherapy or as part of combination chemotherapy protocols for first-line or subsequent treatment produced objective response rates of 61 to 97% in patients with Hodgkin's disease or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) [41 to 48% in high grade NHL]. In patients with multiple myeloma, a bendamustine/prednisone regimen produced a higher rate of complete response (32 vs 11%) and more durable responses than a melphalan/prednisone regimen. Substitution of bendamustine for cyclophosphamide in a standard first-line COP regimen (cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisolone) yielded similar response rates in patients with advanced low grade NHL. Substituting bendamustine for cyclophosphamide in the CMF protocol (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and fluorouracil) prolonged remission from 6.2 to 15.2 months in patients with metastatic breast cancer. The most common adverse events in patients receiving bendamustine are haematological events and gastrointestinal disturbances. Bendamustine has a relatively low propensity to induce alopecia.