Article on Pazopanib from November 2013 ESUN newsletter

[Bonni Hess]

Dear ASPS Community Friends,
The following is a copy of an article of interest regarding the effectiveness of Pazopanib for Sarcoma patients that was published in the November 2013 issue of ESUN which is the electronic newsletter published by the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative:

Pazopanib in sarcomas: expanding the PALETTE
After failure of standard therapy, few effective treatment options exist for adult patients with metastatic sarcomas, and median survival remains dismal at approximately 1 year. Pazopanib, a multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has recently been approved for nonadipocytic soft tissue sarcomas refractory to chemotherapy. In this review article, the authors revisit the efficacy of pazopanib in sarcomas, and present a patient case that illustrates two of many unanswered questions: which sarcoma patients are most likely to benefit from pazopanib therapy, and what criteria are best suited to accurately detect benefit in clinical trials? Recent findings: Pazopanib has been tested in sarcoma patients in a phase II and phase III study, and was shown to prolong progression-free survival by 3 months relative to placebo. Although histology has been the primary stratification variable for subgroup analysis in large sarcoma trials, the PALETTE study did not demonstrate superior response within histologic cohorts. Ongoing trials seek to explore efficacy of pazopanib in previously excluded histologies, as well as include correlative studies to identify histologic and molecular biomarkers to predict patients likely to benefit. Summary: Pazopanib has been proven to provide modest benefit overall to nonadipocytic soft tissue sarcoma patients, but we have yet to identify the molecular basis for those patients who derive exceptional benefit.

With special caring thoughts and continued Hope,
Bonni