Roche and Wyeth drugs to challenge Pfizer’s Sutent

At present, Sutent from Pfizer is considered by experts to be the clinical gold standard for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma, but a new report from Decision Resources forecasts that new drugs will soon challenge this supremacy.

In its paper – Two Hot New Drugs Battle for Top Position: A Renal Cell Carcinoma Study – the research and advisory firm notes that Torisel from Wyeth and Avastin from Roche and Genentech offer patients decreased disease progression times with increased rates of overall survival.

The firm reports positive phase II clinical trial results for Avastin, stabilising disease in 61 per cent of patients with median progression-free survival of 11 months, while phase III studies of Torisel have shown a 49 per cent boost in median overall survival rates.

Mohamed Muhsin, an analyst at the firm, said: “Metastatic renal cell carcinoma is an end-stage disease in which the primary goal of treatment is to prolong survival.”

He added that Torisel and Avastin have shown in their ability to extend survival in a number of clinical trials, while also showing increases in stable disease in patients.

In June 2007, Pfizer reported an advance of phase III studies of Sutent from breast cancer into tests as a treatment for colorectal, hepatocellular and non-small cell lung cancers.