Pazopanib tolerable, improves survival in metastatic soft tissue sarcoma

Treatment with pazopanib is both effective and well tolerated in good performance status patients with relapsed, advanced nonadipocytic soft tissue sarcomas, results of a multicentre retrospective study have shown.

The authors assessed real-life data of single-agent pazopanib efficacy and safety for soft tissue sarcomas in the Turkish population. A total of 103 patients (62 females) who received pazopanib for advanced nonadipocytic soft tissue sarcomas in eight centres in Turkey were evaluated retrospectively.

The dose of pazopanib administered to patients was 800 mg once daily. Outcomes measured included progression-free survival, overall survival, and adverse events.

Of the analysed patients (median age 50 years, range 38–58), 41 percent had leiomyosarcoma. The median progression-free survival was 4.3 months, and the median overall survival was 10.1 months. Common toxicities recorded were fatigue, anorexia, weight loss, nausea, and hypertension; grade ≥3 toxicities included fatigue, anorexia, weight loss, and liver disorder.

An earlier study reported that pazopanib may cause cardiotoxicity such as heart failure, which can be fatal in some patients. Physicians and patients are urged to be aware of such risk when managing the use of pazopanib in soft tissue sarcoma. [J Oncol Pharm Pract 2020;26:768-774]

“Soft tissue sarcomas are associated with a poor prognosis and low chemotherapeutic efficiency,” the authors said. “Pazopanib is an orally available multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor that was explored in patients with nonadipocytic advanced soft tissue sarcomas.”