GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer Shine

Big pharmaceutical companies were in the spotlight Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Atlanta.

Pfizer(PFE Quote) presented positive results for its experimental lung cancer drug Sutent.

The phase II safety and efficacy trial involved 63 patients who had received between one and four prior treatments for non-small cell lung cancer and were still getting worse. The patients underwent six-week cycles in which they received 50 milligrams of the drug per day for four weeks followed by a two-week break.

According to the trial results, tumors shrank by 50% or more in 9.5% of patients who received the drug, and stopped growing in an additional 43% of trial patients, researchers said.

This presentation marked the first time Sutent was proven effective when used alone in non-small cell lung cancer patients whose disease got worse even after prior treatments.

"We feel it looks as good as anything out there in terms of what's already been approved," said Dr. Mark Socinski of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the lead investigator in the trial.

The results are preliminary and this is only the first step, Socinski warned in an interview. More studies need to be conducted to "see where it fits in with standard treatments and how to optimize it."

For example, the trial's four-week-on, two-week-off dosing schedule may not be the best way to give the drug, Socinski says. It's currently being testing using a continuous dosing schedule at a lower dose, 37.5 milligrams a day, with roughly the same amount of drug being administered in the same amount of time.

Still, Socinski has high hopes for Sutent. Cancer drugs are often studied first in patients who've run out of other treatment options.

"Its potential benefit may be greater in the first-line setting than the refractory setting," Socinski says. He believes Sutent should be studied in combined with standard first-choice treatments to see whether it can improve the effects of those standard drugs.