Pfizer’s UK Sutent introduction welcomed with caution

Sutent, the Pfizer drug, has been broadly welcomed by experts as an important new anticancer therapy that can attack two forms of cancers at the same time. However, Cancer Research UK, the cancer charity, has warned against claims that Sutent represents the introduction of a new “wonder drug” into the UK’s oncology drugs arsenal.

One expert pointed to the 42 per cent response rate observed in patients with advanced kidney cancer after being treated with Sutent – a development described by Martin Gore, professor of cancer medicine at the Royal Marsden Hospital, as being “very exciting”, according to the Western Mail.

However, the European approval for Sutent is conditional upon Pfizer submitting more phase III trial results to the Committee for Human Medicinal Products, meaning that it should not be judged as a ‘magic bullet’ too soon, according to Cancer Research UK.

A spokeswoman for the charity told the Guardian: “Sutent has been shown to shrink tumours but it has shown no benefit for patients with renal cancer in terms of lengthening their life.”

“It could be an interesting development but we need to know more. It’s very early days,” she added.

The spokeswoman concluded by saying that although improvements in life-expectancy had been observed in patients with gastrointestinal cancer, it is a “rare cancer that affects relatively few people”.

Dr Joseph Feczko, chief medical officer of Pfizer, said Sutent was a new treatment option for patients that showed “remarkable” response rates and duration in patients with metastatic kidney cancer.

Kidney Cancer UK, the cancer charity, estimates that one person is diagnosed with kidney cancer every 90 minutes. It is the 12th most common cancer in the UK and “extremely difficult” to treat effectively, the charity said.

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