Company has filed for approval in the U.S. and EU and continues trials in other cancers and AMD.

GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) pazopanib reduces the risk of tumor progression or death in advanced kidney cancer patients by 54%, according to Phase III trial data presented at ASCO. The results were based on a global Phase III trial involving 435 renal cell carcinoma patients.


Compared with placebo, pazopanib also quadrupled median progression-free survival (PFS) to 11.1 months among patients who had received no prior drug treatment and nearly doubled median PFS among those previously treated using cytokines to 7.4 months. The response rate in the pazopanib arm for the overall study population was 30% with a duration of response of 59 weeks. 


Pazopanib is an investigational, oral, once-daily angiogenesis inhibitor targeting VEGFR, PDGFR, and c-kit. GSK filed for U.S. and EU approval of the drug as a treatment for renal cell carcinoma in December 2008 and March 2009, respectively.


Pazopanib is also undergoing clinical development either as monotherapy or combination therapy against age-related macular degeneration (Phase II), non-small-cell lung, ovarian, and metastatic breast cancers (Phase II) as well as sacrcoma and inflammatory breast cancer (Phase III).




Past News from GSK in Cancer
Synta Obtains $10M from GSK under Cancer Deal (Feb. 17, 2009)
GSK Returns Two Early-Stage Cancer Drugs to Cytokinetics (Dec. 24, 2008)
GSK Ends Alliance with Exelixis with Decision Not to Select Another Compound (Oct. 23, 2008)

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