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news.Pfizer's cancer drug Sutent can be used for patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) who have not responded to Novartis' Gleevec, which is the current first-line treatment for the disease, according to recent research.
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Researchers have found that the same gene mutation responsible for a tepid response to Gleevec, in treatment of GIST, bestows benefit when Pfizer's new targeted therapy, Sutent is used. They also discovered that a different GIST tumor mutation predicts the opposite – a better response to Gleevec than to Sutent.
This means, the researchers say, that a single genetic assay could potentially help physicians decide when to switch patients from Gleevec, the first-line treatment, to therapy with Sutent, which the FDA approved for second-line use for this cancer in January 2006.
Gleevec revolutionized the care of GIST, a rare cancer that can be resistant to chemotherapy. But not all patients respond equally well to Gleevec, and many become resistant.
Michael Heinrich, professor of medicine at Oregon Health and Science University, said: “Treatment isn't one-size-fits-all anymore. We can individualize therapy based on the types of mutations found in tumor cells.”
“In the case of GIST, we now understand more about how the mutational status of a patient's tumor predicts response to different targeted therapies,” he added.