Lenvatinib (Lenvima)
New oral anticancer drug Lenvima (lenvatinib) has recently been approved by Japan for the treatment of unresectable thyroid cancer. This is another important market that the drug has captured since it was approved by the United States in February of this year. Previously, lenvatinib was granted orphan drug status and priority review qualifications in the United States, Japan, and the European Union. The drug, as an innovative drug with significant public health benefits, will help address the severe unmet medical needs in the field of skjoldbruskkirtlen cancer.
Eisai sagde, at Lenvima vil blive den nye standard for klinisk behandling af inoperabel skjoldbruskkirtelkræft. Industrien er meget optimistisk med hensyn til Lenvima, og det forventes, at stoffet vil blive en ny cash cow for Eisai, med et årligt salg, der topper på mere end $ 1 mia.
According to Eisai’s official information, in a large phase III SELECT study, lenvatinib significantly prolonged the progression-free survival of radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer compared to placebo (PFS: 18.3 months vs 3.6 months At the same time, a significantly higher proportion of patients in the lenvatinib treatment group achieved tumor volume reduction (65% vs 2%). In addition, in another phase II study in Japan, lenvatinib also showed good efficacy and tolerance for medullary thyroid cancer and undifferentiated thyroid cancer.
Based on these results, Lenvima was approved by the Japanese regulatory agency to become the first molecular targeted therapy for unresectable thyroid cancer (including differentiated thyroid cancer, medullary thyroid cancer, and undifferentiated thyroid cancer).
I øjeblikket, selvom de fleste typer kræft i skjoldbruskkirtlen kan behandles, er der få muligheder for behandling, når det først bliver værre. Differentiel skjoldbruskkirtelkræft (DTC) er den mest almindelige maligne skjoldbruskkirteltumor, og dens forekomst er steget støt i de senere år.
Lenvatinib er en oral multi-receptor tyrosinkinase (RTK) hæmmer med en ny bindingsmåde. Ud over at hæmme andre RTK'er involveret i tumorproliferation og onkogene signalveje, kan det også selektivt hæmme vaskulær endotelvækstfaktor (VEGF) receptorkinaseaktivitet.
