Pfizer ditches figitumumab in study with erlotinib and gets poor results from Sutent

It was a bad news day for global behemoth Pfizer yesterday, as the company announced that it is discontinuing its A4021018 study (also known as ADVIGO 1018), a Phase III trial examining the effects of investigational compound figitumumab (CP-751,871) in combination with erlotinib as a second/third-line treatment in patients with previously treated advanced non-adenocarcinoma non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It also revealed that two Phase III studies of Sutent (sunitinib malate) in advanced breast cancer did not meet their primary endpoints.

In so far at Sutent is concerned, the SUN 1064 Phase III study of sunitinib in combination with docetaxel for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced HER-2 negative breast cancer did not show a statistically-significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with docetaxel alone. In addition, the SUN 1099 Phase III trial of sunitinib plus capecitabine, in previously-treated advanced breast cancer patients, did not show a statistically-significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with capecitabine alone, the New York headquartered firm noted.

'Sunitinib has been thoroughly evaluated in advanced HER-2 negative breast cancer and, while we are disappointed in the results, these trials have helped us define the limits and opportunities for the compound and better understand the complex biology of this disease,' said Mace Rothenberg, senior vice president of clinical development and medical affairs for Pfizer's Oncology Business Unit. 'Pfizer Oncology is committed to the rigorous evaluation of investigational therapies in breast cancer, which despite recent advancements, continues to claim far too many lives each year,' he added.