Lenvatinibe (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 câncer de tireoide.
Eisai disse que o Lenvima se tornará o novo padrão para o tratamento clínico do câncer de tireoide irressecável. A indústria está muito otimista em relação ao Lenvima e espera-se que o medicamento se torne uma nova fonte de renda para a Eisai, com vendas anuais atingindo um pico de mais de US$ 1 bilhão.
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).
Atualmente, embora a maioria dos tipos de câncer de tireoide possa ser tratada, há poucas opções de tratamento quando a doença piora. O câncer diferencial de tireoide (CDT) é o tumor maligno de tireoide mais comum e sua incidência tem aumentado constantemente nos últimos anos.
Lenvatinibe é um inibidor oral multirreceptor da tirosina quinase (RTK) com um novo modo de ligação. Além de inibir outros RTKs envolvidos na proliferação tumoral e nas vias de sinalização oncogênica, também pode inibir seletivamente a atividade da quinase do receptor do fator de crescimento endotelial vascular (VEGF).
