EMA approves GlaxoSmithKline's Votrient for soft tissue sarcomas

UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) says that the European Medicines Agency has approved Votrient (pazopanib) for the treatment of adult patients with selective subtypes of advanced STS who have received prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease or who have progressed within 12 months after (neo) adjuvant therapy.

Efficacy and safety have only been established in certain STS histological tumor subtypes, the company noted. Pazopanib has been approved for the first-line treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and for patients who have received prior cytokine therapy for advanced disease, since June 2010. The drug generated sales of £20 million ($31.2 million) in the second quarter of 2012, a 67% year-on-year rise.

Approximately 600 patients present with advanced STS in the UK each year and the prognosis for these patients is very poor. From diagnosis of advanced disease, median survival is around 12 months and five-year survival rates are less than 20%.