ASCO Confab: Who's Grabbing the Spotlight?

Pfizer inherited Sutent after its 2002 acquisition of Pharmacia. The product is also in trials for stomach cancer.

Based on the positive interim results, the companies plan to file for FDA approval of the treatment.

Tarceva Sound in Pancreatic Cancer Trial

Tarceva, the Genetech and OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP) drug, lets advanced pancreatic cancer patients live longer, according to trial data presented at the ASCO meeting.

The addition of Tarceva to gemcitabine chemotherapy improved overall survival by 23.5% compared with patients receiving the chemotherapy alone. The phase III safety and efficacy trials involved 569 patients, spanning 17 countries and 140 study centers.

Median survival for patients receiving Tarceva plus chemotherapy was 6.4 months vs 5.9 months for those who took the gemcitabine and a placebo.

Sutent Side Effect

Pfizer's experimental drug Sutent, formerly SU11248, caused hyperthyroidism in a subset of its phase I/II trial of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors, researchers said at ASCO on Sunday.

Hyperthyroidism is characterized by abnormally high levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone, and was manageable with additional drug therapy. In a dose escalation study of patients with metastatic gastroinstestinal stromal tumors, who had unsuccessful prior treatment with Imatinib, 40% of patients experienced thyroid dysfunction after using Sutent.

The side effect didn't require an interruption or adjustment of the Sutent dosage, researchers say, but the results "warrant further investigation."

More on Avastin

The incidence of life-threatening bleeding associated with Genentech's drug was lower in the most recent phase III lung cancer trial than in a previous study.

Leading up to the ASCO annual meeting, analysts and investors were concerned about the rate of hemoptysis, a potentially fatal bleeding of the lungs, that occurred as a side effect in 9% of patients in a phase II Avastin trial, but only 1.2% of patients in the phase III trial.