Pazopanib as first-line therapy for patients with metastatic kidney cancer

Pazopanib (Votrient®) is an oral small-molecule multi-kinase inhibitor that predominantly inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1, -2 and -3, platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α and -β and the stem cell factor receptor c-Kit. In preliminary experiments using mouse and rabbit models of angiogenesis, pazopanib inhibited angiogenesis caused by a combined vascular endothelial growth factor and a major fibroblast growth factor. Although the drug was developed as a therapeutic multi-tumour agent, it is currently approved in many countries for the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma and renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In multicentre, randomized trials of the efficacy of pazopanib as a first-line therapy in patients with metastatic RCC, progression-free survival (PFS) was significantly greater in pazopanib recipients than in cytokine recipients and pazopanib was noninferior to sunitinib with respect to time to disease progression. In addition, side effects such as liver dysfunction and hypertension can be usually managed, and pazopanib is likely to be a more preferred cost-effective option and shows better quality-of-life compared to other alternative drugs.