A medication that helps stop the growth of new blood vessels has produced dramatic benefits for some patients with aggressive thyroid cancer, research from Mayo Clinic indicates.
At the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Mayo investigators report that cancer in about two-thirds of 37 patients with aggressive differentiated thyroid cancer treated with the drug pazopanib either stopped growing, or quickly shrank.
The patient responses seen to date are promising, the researchers say, because all patients had fast-growing cancers that had spread to their lungs, with half involving lymph nodes and 39 percent also involving bones.
“The benefits were striking in many patients to a degree we have not previously seen in thyroid cancer in response to other therapies, including the standard treatment of radioiodine,” says Keith Bible, M.D., Ph.D., a medical oncologist and researcher who led the multicenter clinical trial funded by the National Cancer Institute. Most of the patients treated were enrolled at the Mayo Clinic campuses in Minnesota and Florida.
Approximately one-third of patients achieved sustained and dramatic benefit from pazopanib, while another one-third experienced stabilization of their cancer or some tumor shrinkage. The remaining one-third of patients did not benefit from the drug. The agent was also well tolerated by the majority of patients, Dr. Bible adds.
What is not yet known, however, is the drug’s effect on overall survival. “We need more time to establish that definitively,” says Dr. Bible. “The trial has been going on for just over a year, and some of our patients are still maintaining a response, while others have not been in the study long enough for us to confirm duration of response.” He notes that of the 37 original trial participants, two have died — one from cancer progression and another from other causes.
Below is a link to an edited youtube video with Dr. Bible.
Is this drug available in Australia? If so where? I have pappillary thyroid cancer metastisied to lungs i need help I have tried all other treatment available
Mr. Hall:
We have a Mayo Phase 2 Consortium site in Australia, below is the contact information:
Michael Millward
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
Hospital Avenue
Nedlands 6009
Australia
Phone: +61 8 93463823
Fax: +61 8 93462816
millward@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
Does anyone know of the Drug sunitinib {sutent}? Is it along similar lines as panzanib?
Sorry wrong spelling it should be pazopanib
Mr. Hall:
For further assistance, please contact Mayo Clinic Cancer Center’s Clinical Trials Referral Office at 507-538-7623.
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