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NCCN Announces Important Updates to Kidney Cancer Clinical Practice Guidelines

JENKINTOWN, Pa., March 7, 2006 — The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) announces updates to the NCCN Kidney Cancer Guidelines. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ are widely recognized and applied as the standard for clinical policy in oncology in both the community practice setting and in academic cancer centers. These guidelines are used extensively by managed care companies and by Medicare as the basis for coverage policies. These guidelines are updated continually and are based upon evaluation of scientific data integrated with expert judgment.

The NCCN Kidney Cancer Guidelines have recently been updated to a 2.2006 version due to new therapy options available for advanced kidney cancer. The Kidney Cancer panel significantly restructured the treatment recommendations for advanced kidney cancer by delineating treatment by histology and adding treatment options for first- and second-line therapy. Two kinase inhibitors, sorafenib (Nexavar, Bayer) and sunitinib (Sutent, Pfizer) were recently approved by the FDA and incorporated into the first and second-line therapy options for advanced cancer in the guidelines.

“NCCN Guidelines highlight the cutting-edge developments in treatment and are an essential tool for physicians, allied health professionals, patients and public and private payors,” said William T. McGivney, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of the NCCN.

For a detailed listing of all updates to the NCCN Guidelines, please go to www.nccn.org.