In patients with advanced thyroid cancer, Sunitinib [ Sutent ], a drug approved for treatment of several other cancers, showed significant cancer-fighting activity.
Sunitinib can potentially be used as an effective adjunctive treatment in patients with advanced differentiated thyroid cancer.

Differentiated thyroid cancer is the most common type of cancer of the thyroid. For patients with this type of cancer, surgery and treatment with radioactive Iodine to destroy the cancer cells are very effective, but in some patients, the tumor will continue to progress.

Researchers tested the treatment effect of Sunitinib in 23 patients with advanced-stage differentiated thyroid cancer who had undergone at least one course of radioactive iodine treatment. Primarily, they measured progression-free survival, the length of time that the tumor did not progress.
They also measured the response of tumor growth to Sunitinib using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors ( RECIST ). Patients received a starting daily dose ( 37.5 mg ) of oral Sunitinib.

The median progression-free survival was 241 days, or about eight months.

Because this was a phase 2 clinical trial, there was no control group. The investigators compared their results against that of the control group from a recently published study in patients with the same type of cancer who received a placebo.
Compared with these controls, researchers found that the progression-free survival ( PFS ) with Sunitinib treatment in the study was significantly longer than without it.
Further, the progression-free survival using Sunitinib was comparable to that previously reported for Sorafenib [ Nexavar ].

83% of Sunitinib-treated patients benefited from treatment, with either significant shrinkage of the tumors ( partial response ) or slowed disease progression ( stable disease ).
Six patients ( 26% ) had a partial response to Sunitinib, and 13 ( 57% ) had stable disease.

Sunitinib is not a cure but it appears from this study that it may slow the progression of disease.

In general, the patients tolerated the medicine fairly well, with the most commonly reported adverse events being mild or moderate. ( Xagena )

Source: The Endocrine Society, 2015

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