Study Shows AstraZeneca Drug Works In Thyroid Cancer

By JENNIFER CORBETT DOOREN

CHICAGO—Results of a study involving an experimental AstraZeneca PLC drug, vandetanib, showed it extends the time before a type of rare thyroid cancer gets worse.
Vandetanib works to block a protein involved with cancer growth as well as block blood vessels that feed tumors. One of the proteins the drug targets is known as RET, which appears to be involved in a certain type of thyroid cancer known as medullary thyroid cancer. The thyroid gland is located at the base of the neck and makes hormones that control heart rate, body temperature and metabolism.
Vandetanib was previously studied as a treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer in combination with chemotherapy. Last year, AstraZeneca withdrew an application from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval of vandetanib in the lung cancer setting after clinical data failed to show it increased patients' survival time. The company had proposed selling vandetanib under the brand name Zactima.
Peter Langmuir, executive director of medical science at AstraZeneca, said the company plans to file for FDA approval of vandetanib to treat medullary thyroid cancer based on the study results. The results are scheduled to be presented later Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting.
AstraZeneca's study involved 331 patients with advanced medullary thyroid cancer. About 230 patients received vandetanib while 100 received a placebo, or sham, treatment.
After an average follow-up of 24 months, the study showed that 48% of patients receiving vandetanib continued on treatment while 37% of patients progressed, or had their disease get worse. Fifteen percent of patients in the study died.
Researchers said the study showed that treatment with vandetanib reduced the risk of thyroid cancer progressing by 54% compared with patients not receiving the drug. The study data isn't mature enough to show whether slowing disease progression will translate into an increase in overall survival. AstraZeneca is also conducting another trial in a more common form of papillary thyroid cancer.
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 45,000 cases of thyroid cancer will be diagnosed this year in the U.S.
Write to Jennifer Corbett Dooren at jennifer.corbett-dooren@dowjones.com