Three 'targeted' cancer drugs slightly raise fatal side effects risk, says Dana-Faber Inst

Treatment with three relatively new "targeted" cancer drugs has been linked to a slightly elevated chance of fatal side effects, according to a new analysis led by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. USA. They added that the risk remains low, but should be taken into account by physicians and patients.

The incidence of fatal complications was 1.5% in patients who received any of the three drugs, which block the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) tyrosine kinase receptors in cancer cells, according to the study published February 6 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. This is compared to a 0.7% incidence in patients given standard treatments or placebos.

The study looked at three drugs: sorafenib (Bayer’s Nexavar), sunitinib (Pfizer’s Sutent), and pazopanib (GlaxoSmithKline’s Votrient). Sorafenib is approved to treat kidney and liver cancer, sunitinib to treat kidney cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), and pazopanib to treat kidney cancer.