Pazopanib
From GunGame5 Documentation
The US FDA has lately approved Pazopanib Hydrochloride to be used as a treatment for kidney cancer. The drug is marketed in the US under the trade name Votrient.
This [http://www.pazopanib.net/ renal cell carcinoma treatment was created by GlaxoSmithKline. The drug, which is administered orally in tablet form, received formal approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating advanced kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma) in October 2009.
Each year more than 58,240 (2010) adults in the United States are diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most widespread form of all kidney cancers. It is also referred to as conventional or clear cell renal cell carcinoma. This disease is to blame for 85% of all kidney cancers and kills more than 13,000 Americans annually. Research suggests that people who's ancestry go back to northern Europe or Africa are slightly more resistant to the disease. About doubly as many men as women will contract the disease and the average age is 64. In this country, renal cell cancer is the 10th leading cause of death by cancer in adult males.
The cause of the disease is yet to be ascertained, they way the cancer works and develops is understood well enough to treat to a certain degree and there are things that contribute to it's development. Cancerous cells take up residency in the lining of the tinier tubules in the kidney. After first infections, these cancerous cells will rapidy multiply and produce a mass of cancerous cells called a tumor that will actually rob the surrounding tissue of the body's resources. The lymphatic system and bloodstream can carry cells that have broken off and spread the cancer around your body. There are many places that these celss can end up such as the pancreas or colon but the most common locations are the lungs and liver. Many things affect the probability of survial but the biggest determining factor is when it was caught and the number of metastatis.
An succesful multi-national placebo based trial of the drug's completion was what enabled Pazopanib's FDA approval as well as establishing renal cell carcinoma life expectancy. For this type of trial, the key is to have the drugs administered to a quantity of patients and a placebo to others but make sure that neither know what they are receiving. It is designed this way and the patients who receive the drug are chosen at random, serving to create a fair study with no bias or erroneous information.
This particular trial however had two different groups of patients who had all contracted RCC, there was those who had taken cytokine therapy previously for treament and those who had not. This study consisted of 435 patients in total; of that figure a total of 290 patients received the drug and 190 of them were issued a placebo. The study was looking for info on whether or not the test subjects cancer disease worsened and at what point during or after treatment this happened. Patients getting pazopanib had a average PFS of 9.2 months compared to 4.2 months for those in the placebo group (regardless of prior cytokine therapy). By the time the end of the tiral came around, 40% of the test subjects that were involved in the trial passed away. Yet, the response rate (the ratio that showed a partial or a total remission of their cancer) for patients treated with pazopanib was 30%. For patients who recieved the placebo, only 3% of their cancers were in remission. In this study, scientists measured how long the tumor shrank before it began to develop again - the so-called "duration of response". They established this time as just over a year at 13.5 months.
According to the FDA report, the two groups had statistically various rates of adverse reactions. Side effects such as high blood pressure, abomoral operation of the patient's liver, diarrhea and a concentration of protein in the urine. When these patients were cardiac response was measured, some also suffered altered EEG readings. These reactions are normal to many different drugs too.
The study notes that two deaths in the survey were connected with liver failure. On the label of the drug when prescribed, it mentions potential issues with hepatic dysfuntion because of these cases. With this in mind, the FDA imposed tight guidelines on patients prescribed pazopanib that they must have their liver function tested frequently. In a case where a patient has a track record of problems with their liver, it is advised to modify the dose to minimise any risk. The FDA also recommends that doctors keep watch over heart function and electrolytes during treatment.
