ODAC says yes to pazopanib in renal cell cancer
Wow, the renal cell cancer (RCC) market is getting very crowded now with ODAC saying 'yes' to GSK's VEGF inhibitor, pazopanib (Votrient). Of course, the FDA do not have to take the committee's advice, but a unanimous vote in favour of approval is pretty compelling, despite the FDA's concerns about liver toxicities. Other side effects included diarhea and heart concerns.
There are approximately 58,000 people diagnosed with kidney cancer in the US every year; RCC is the most common form and accounts for 9 out of 10 if the cases.
In recent years, sorafenib (Nexavar), sunitinib (Sutent), temsirolimus (Torisel), everolimus (Afinitor) and bevacizumab (Avastin) have all been approved for metastatic RCC, offering physicians and patients plenty of treatment options either alone or in combination with other therapies such as interferon alpha. The disease is highly vascular and mediated by the VEGF pathway, thereby offering a proof of concept and route to market for companies developing VEGF inhibitors, with others also in development.
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One Response to “ODAC says yes to pazopanib in renal cell cancer”
Don’t see why the FDA should approve GSK’s VEGF inhibitor, especially with the concerns over liver toxicities and not to mention the other side effects. We don’t need any more treatments on the RCC market that have detrimental side effects.
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