GlaxoSmithKline applies for kidney cancer drug authorisation

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has applied for marketing authorisation of a drug to offer physicians and patients a new option when treating advanced kidney cancer.

The company has submitted the application to the European Medicines Agency for the investigational oral angiogenesis inhibitor Pazopanib.

It can target key proteins responsible for tumour growth and survival and is intended for use in patients with either advanced or metastatic forms of renal cell carcinoma.

This disease is the most common form of kidney cancer and around 208,000 new cases are diagnosed every year ? more than ten per cent of which are in western Europe.

Paolo Paoletti, senior vice-president of the firm’s research and development oncology unit, commented: “If approved, Pazopanib will ? demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the development of innovative and personalised treatments for patients with cancer.”

Last month, the company began a phase III clinical trial, which will involve more than 4,000 patients, to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of Syncria (albiglutide) in men and women with type two diabetes.

Senior vice-president of GSK’s biopharm development unit Dr Carlo Russo stated new therapies were needed to control the illness.