News Details
NCCN Guidelines for Kidney Cancer Updated to Include Pazopanib for Advanced Disease; Free Webinar Discusses Updates
The NCCN Guidelines for Kidney Cancer have been updated to incorporate the recently approved therapy pazopanib as a treatment option for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. In conjunction with this update, NCCN presents a series of free webinars scheduled for the week of November 9, 2009, hosted by an NCCN Guidelines Panel Member to review the information that supported modification of the NCCN Guidelines.
November 3, 2009
FORT WASHINGTON, PA — Following the recent FDA approval of pazopanib (Votrient™, GlaxoSmithKline) for advanced renal cell carcinoma, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has updated the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ for Kidney Cancer to include pazopanib as a therapy option for patients with advanced kidney cancer. NCCN has developed a new educational initiative, NCCN Guidelines Update Webinar Series™: Kidney Cancer, designed to quickly communicate significant updates and the basis of the NCCN Guidelines. Four webinars are scheduled for the week of November 9, 2009.
The FDA approved pazopanib on October 19 for advanced renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer in which cancerous cells invade the lining of small tubes in the kidney called tubules. The therapy works by attacking key proteins involved in cancer tumor growth and survival.
The FDA based their decision on the outcome of a phase III, open-label, multi-center clinical trial in patients with advanced clear cell renal carcinoma which showed increased progression-free survival in patients treated with pazopanib compared to those who did not receive the therapy.
Based upon this data, the NCCN Guidelines Panel for Kidney Cancer has added pazopanib as a first-line therapy option for those with predominant clear cell histology (category 1 designation) and for those with non clear cell histology (category 3 designation). In addition, pazopanib has been incorporated into the options for subsequent therapy for those with predominant clear cell histology following cytokine therapy (category 1 designation) and following other tyrosine kinase inhibitors (category 3 designation).
Pazopanib is among a growing list of therapies that has recently been approved by the FDA for kidney cancer. Most recently in April 2009, everolimus (Afinitor®, Novartis) was approved and integrated into the NCCN Guidelines as a recommended treatment option.
The NCCN Guidelines Update Webinar Series™: Kidney Cancer are free 45-minute webinars that will consist of a presentation by Robert A. Figlin, MD, a member of the NCCN Guidelines Panel for Kidney Cancer from City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as an interactive question and answer period for participants. A series of four webinars have been scheduled for the week of November 9 at varying times to allow for increased participation. To view a list of scheduled dates and times as well as register for a webinar, visit NCCN.org.
NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ are developed and updated through an evidence-based process with explicit review of the scientific evidence integrated with expert judgment by multidisciplinary panels of physicians from NCCN Member Institutions. The most recent version of this and all the NCCN Guidelines are available free of charge at NCCN.org.