Cabozantinib Promising for Metastatic Pheochromocytomas, Paragangliomas

MONDAY, April 29, 2024 (HealthDay News) — For patients with metastatic pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (MPPGs), an antiangiogenic multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, cabozantinib, is promising, according to a study published online April 9 in The Lancet Oncology.

Camilo Jimenez, M.D., from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues conducted a single-arm, phase 2 clinical trial involving patients aged 18 years or older with histologically confirmed, progressive, and unresectable MPPGs, with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 to 2. The investigator-assessed overall response rate per the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 criteria was examined as the primary end point.

Seventeen patients were enrolled from March 10, 2015, to May 11, 2021. The researchers found that the overall response rate was 25.0 percent. In six patients, seven grade 3 adverse events were reported, including single cases of hand-and-foot syndrome, hypertension, rectal fistula, QT prolongation, and asymptomatic hypomagnesemia; two cases of asymptomatic elevations of amylase and lipase occurred. No grade 4 adverse events were reported, and there were no patient deaths during the study.

“Cabozantinib reduces tumor size and durably stabilizes disease in most patients with MPPGs, irrespective of the presence of germline SDHB pathogenic variants,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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