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Pazopanib: A Review of Its Use in the Management of Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma

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Abstract

Pazopanib (Votrient®) is an orally administered multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is approved in the EU, the US and other countries for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma. Pazopanib predominantly inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1, -2 and -3, platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α and -β, and the stem cell factor receptor c-Kit, resulting in inhibition of tumour angiogenesis, cell growth and survival. In randomized controlled trials in patients with advanced, predominantly clear-cell, renal cell carcinoma, progression-free survival (PFS) and the objective response rate were significantly greater in pazopanib recipients than in placebo recipients (VEG105192 trial), and pazopanib was noninferior to sunitinib with respect to PFS (COMPARZ study). In a patient-preference, crossover study involving 10 weeks of treatment with each drug (PISCES study), significantly more patients expressed a preference for pazopanib than for sunitinib, with their preference being based primarily on tolerability and quality-of-life issues. Health-related quality-of-life (HR-QOL) assessments generally favoured pazopanib over sunitinib in COMPARZ, and pazopanib did not cause deterioration in HR-QOL compared with placebo in VEG105192. Pazopanib caused less myelosuppression, hand-foot syndrome, mucositis/stomatitis, dysgeusia and fatigue than sunitinib, but more abnormal liver function tests. Therefore, pazopanib was noninferior to sunitinib with respect to efficacy in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma, but had a differentiated tolerability profile, which affected HR-QOL and patient preference.

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Disclosure

The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding. During the peer review process, the manufacturer of the agent under review was offered an opportunity to comment on this article. Changes resulting from comments received were made by the author on the basis of scientific and editorial merit. Paul McCormack is a salaried employee of Adis/Springer.

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  1. Adis, Level 1, 5 The Warehouse Way, Northcote 0627; Private Bag 65901, Mairangi Bay 0754, Auckland, New Zealand

    Paul L. McCormack

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Correspondence to Paul L. McCormack.

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The manuscript was reviewed by: L. Bergmann, Medical Clinic II, Department of Internal Medicine, Goethe University Hospital, Frankfurt, Germany; D. Cella, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Evanston, IL, USA.

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McCormack, P.L. Pazopanib: A Review of Its Use in the Management of Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma. Drugs 74, 1111–1125 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-014-0243-3

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