News Report:Pfizer Positive on Sutent

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Biotech/Pharmaceuticals

Pfizer Positive on Sutent

By TSC Staff

5/14/2005 6:28 PM EDT

URL: http://www.thestreet.com/stocks/biotech/10223536.html

Pfizer's (PFE:NYSE) investigational drug Sutent more than doubled survival

and significantly reduced tumor growth and spread in a Phase III study in

patients with Gleevec-resistant gastrointestinal stromal tumors, the company

said.

The drugmaker said encouraging Phase II results also were observed in other

tumor types, including metastatic renal cell carcinoma, metastatic breast

cancer and neuroendocrine tumors, according to data presented at the annual

meeting

of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Sutent is designed to starve tumors of blood and nutrients needed for growth

and simultaneously kill cancer cells that make up tumors.

The results from a Phase III study of more than 300 GIST patients resistant

to or intolerant of the standard treatment Gleevec, showed Sutent prolonged

the

time to tumor progression (6.3 months on Sutent vs. 1.5 months for controls)

and reduced the risk of death by about 50% compared with a placebo, Pfizer

said in a press release.

In addition, long-term follow-up data from the Phase I/II GIST study

demonstrated that Sutent extended overall survival to nearly 20 months in

patients

whose cancer had progressed despite treatment with other standard therapies.

Also, the median time to tumor progression in this study was 7.8 months for

all

patients, with some patients benefiting even more.

Gleevec is made by Novartis (NVS:NYSE) .

Separate data were released from two Phase II studies of patients with

resistant renal cell, or kidney, tumors. In a 63-patient trial, 40% of

patients

responded to treatment with Sutent. Tumors didn't progress for more than

three

months in an additional 28% of patients, indicating that 68% of patients

benefited from the treatment, Pfizer said. The average time to tumor

progression for

patients in this study was 8.7 months, and the median overall survival was

16.4

months.

A second Phase II study of 106 patients demonstrated an objective response

rate of 39% in patients treated with Sutent, the company said. Among the

patients, 23% saw tumor stabilization. Taken together, a total of 62% of

patients

benefited from treatment with Sutent, Pfizer said.

Elsewhere, trial findings from Bayer (BAY:NYSE) and Onyx Pharmaceuticals

(ONXX:Nasdaq) for the experimental drug sorafenib confirmed interim Phase

III

results in progression-free survival of advanced renal cell carcinoma.

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