GW786034 | CH-223191

Pazopanib, a new therapy for metastatic soft tissue sarcoma
Jaap Verweij† & Stefan Sleijfer
Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Department of Medical Oncology, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Introduction: Pazopanib (GW786034, Votrientti ) is a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-focused multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor involved in inhib- iting the angiogenesis pathway. The agent was recently registered for use in soft tissue sarcomas, a group of diseases with a major unmet medical need. Areas covered: The relevance of angiogenesis in soft tissue sarcomas is dis- cussed. These data were the basis to decide on the development of pazopanib in these diseases. The clinical pharmacology of pazopanib, as far as practically relevant, is summarized. After the first observations of possible activity in soft tissue sarcomas in the Phase I study, a Phase II and subsequent randomized placebo-controlled Phase III study were performed and are being put into perspective in this review.
Expert opinion: Pazopanib is an active drug for the treatment of chemotherapy- failing nonadipocytic soft tissue sarcomas. It almost triples progression-free survival significantly from 1.6 to 4.6 months in this heavily pretreated popula- tion. The safety profile is manageable, exemplified by the high dose intensity that can be achieved over time. Pazopanib can be considered as part of the standard of care for patients with soft tissue sarcomas.

Keywords: pazopanib, soft tissue sarcoma

Expert Opin. Pharmacother. (2013) 14(7):929-935

1.Introduction

Soft tissue sarcomas are rare diseases of mesenchymal origin that comprise < 1% of all malignancies in adults. They are further subclassified into a large number of his- tological subtypes [1], which are increasingly identified to have distinct molecular features, and a distinctive clinical behavior and sensitivity to therapy [2]. Because of the low incidence of soft tissue sarcomas it has been (considered) difficult to per- form adequate studies on drug treatments in soft tissue sarcomas in general, and more in particular in the various histotypes. The process of drug development has therefore been slow, and in the last 30 years only a few new agents have been iden- tified to yield activity [3]. Only three of those agents were specifically registered for soft tissue sarcomas: imatinib and sunitinib in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) [4] and trabectedin in soft tissue sarcomas in general, but with most activity being reported in leiomyosarcoma and myxoid liposarcoma [5]. Whereas imatinib did receive marketing approval based on Phase II study data [6], large Phase III stud- ies were subsequently done and confirmed activity in metastatic disease [4,7]. For tra- bectedin however, such Phase III data are still lacking and the European marketing approval was based on Phase II study data. But despite the advent of these novel agents, the prognosis for the vast majority of patients with metastatic soft tissue sar- coma remains dismal. The median overall survival of patients with metastatic non- GIST sarcomas is in the order of one year, which clearly stresses the need for novel agents.
Tumor angiogenesis, the formation of new tumor vessels, is essential for growth and dissemination of malignancies. This process is regulated by many different fac- tors of which vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family is thought to be one

929

Box 1. Drug summary.

VEGF-A, VEGF-B and PlGF thereby preventing these factors to bind to their receptors. TKIs abrogate this pathway in a

Drug name Phase Indication

Pharmacology description
Pazopanib III
Nonadipocytic soft tissue sarcoma, renal cell carcinoma
Tyrosine kinase inhibitor
totally different way. Through targeting the intracellularly located tyrosine kinase domain of the VEGFR, the attach- ment of ATP to the ATP-binding pocket of the receptor is competitively hindered as a consequence of which TKIs inhibit the signal transduction of VEGFR.

Route of Oral administration
Chemical formula 5-[[4-[(2,3-Dimethyl-2H-indazol-6-yl) (methyl)amino]pyrimidin-2-yl]amino]- 2-methylbenzenesulfonamide
Pazopanib is a TKI that was specifically designed to im- pair angiogenesis by abrogating VEGFR2. Besides VEGFR2, the drug has inhibitory effects against tyrosine kinases of VEGFR1, VEGFR3, platelet-derived growth factor receptor

Pivotal trial(s)
[33,35]
(PDGFR)-a, PDGFR-b, and c-kit [17,18].
In early clinical studies, pazopanib plasma steady state concentrations > 15 µg/ml, which is the level needed for

of the most important ones. VEGF expression has been dem- onstrated in many STS entities [8], while increased expression is associated with a higher malignancy grade [9,10] and a worse metastasis-free and overall survival in localized disease [11]. VEGF blood levels in STS patients are elevated compared to controls [12-15] and are related to the histological grade of the primary tumor [12,13]. In addition, factors other than VEGF such as the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) are likely to be involved in STS angiogenesis as well [16]. All together, these data suggest that pro-angiogenic factors may be potential targets for treatment.
Pazopanib (GW786034, Votrientti, see Box 1), is a synthetic indazolylpyrimidine inhibiting the function of several tumor- microenvironment factors such as the VEGF and PDGF. As these factors are thought to play an important role in soft tissue sarcomas, pazopanib was studied for its antitumor effects in this disease and recently received marketing approval for soft tissue sarcomas. The development of pazopanib in this group of diseases is reviewed in this paper.

2.Pazopanib pharmacology

As indicated, angiogenesis has been reported to have a major role in the progression of soft tissue sarcomas [8], and involves numerous pro-angiogenic factors such as the vascular endo- thelial growth factors (VEGFs). The human VEGF family consists of VEGF-A (usually referred to as VEGF), VEGF-B, VEGF-C, VEGF-D and placental-like growth factor (PlGF). To exert their function, VEGFs bind to receptors of which three have been described so far: vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1), VEGFR2, and VEGFR3.
Currently, inhibition of VEGF-VEGFR driven processes can be achieved by three means: monoclonal antibodies, recombinant decoy fusions proteins, or tyrosine kinase inhib- itors (TKIs). Monoclonal antibodies active against the VEGF- VEGFR pathway target either the extracellular domain of the VEGFR or trap VEGF, thereby preventing VEGF binding to its receptors. VEGF-Trap is a recombinant, decoy receptor fusion protein, consisting of the immunoglobulin domains of VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 linked to the constant region of human immunoglobulin G1. This compound binds to
maximal inhibition of VEGFR2 phosphorylation in vitro and that paralleled antitumor activity in preclinical models, were observed in 85% of patients receiving a daily dose of 800 mg. It plateaued at doses ‡ 800 mg/day and the concen- tration of ‡ 15 µg/ml was dependent on total daily dose rather than the dose per administration [19]. The plasma half-life is approximately 35 h [20].
Because of an observed food-effect, pazopanib is recom- mended to be administered in the fasted state, at least 2 h after or 1 h prior to food intake [21]. Pazopanib was shown in in vitro studies to be metabolized by CYP3A4 and to a lesser extent CYP 1A2 and CYP 2C8 [19]. The majority of resulting metabolites are considerably less active than the parent compound. In view of this, co-administration of agents that are potent inhibitors or inducers of these isoenzymes should preferably be avoided. Con- current administration of lapatinib (750 — 1500 mg qd), an orally available inhibitor of ErbB1 and ErbB2, and a weak inhibitor of CYP 3A4 and pazopanib, lead to an increased sys- temic exposure of pazopanib, expressed as a 50 — 60% increase in AUC and Cmax values. Lapatinib concentrations were not altered [22,23]. Concomitant administration of pazopanib resulted in an approximately 20 — 35% higher mean Cmax and AUC of weekly paclitaxel given at a dose of 15 — 50 mg/m2 [24]. This clearly shows the importance to study possible drug– drug interactions with pazopanib-containing regimens prior to implementing large studies focused on activity. The importance of this is also shown by a Phase I study on the com- bination of pazopanib with ifosfamide, which showed that concomitant administration of ifosfamide transiently decreased pazopanib plasma levels, although its pharmacodynamic effects remained intact [25].

3.Phase II studies of angiogenesis inhibiting agents in soft tissue sarcomas

Given the role of angiogenesis in soft tissue sarcomas, several compounds targeting the VEGF-VEGFR pathway have been studied in the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas. Only a small ret- rospective dataset is available for the monoclonal antibody beva- cizumab [26]. For ABT-510, sorafenib, sunitinib and pazopanib formal prospective Phase II studies have been performed.

930 Expert Opin. Pharmacother. (2013) 14(7)

EORTC active

40
ABT-510

30
Pazopanib

Sorafenib

20
Sunitinib

0
EORTC inactive

6.months PFS

Figure 1. Progression-free survival rate at 6 months, in Phase II studies in soft tissue sarcomas.
EORTC active: Drugs considered to be active from EORTC database; EORTC inactive: Drugs considered to be inactive from EORTC database.

Importantly, these studies differed in terms of primary end- points, statistical designs, and stratification for the diverse soft tissue sarcoma subtypes. The studies on ABT-510 and pazo- panib have used the EORTC-based progression-free survival (PFS) rates at 3 and/or 6 months as primary endpoint [27]. The EORTC-based PFS rates at 3 and 6 months, which can serve as reference values to establish drug activity in Phase II studies in STS, were estimated from data of pretreated patients prospectively treated in EORTC studies with drugs considered in retrospect as active or inactive [27]. The PFS rate rather than response rate, which is a more common end- point in Phase II studies, was used in the studies on pazopanib and ABT-510 since any antitumor activity from angiogenesis inhibitors, based on preclinical data, was anticipated to occur through stabilization of disease rather than by inducing tumor regressions in human beings. Moreover and in contrast to the studies on ABT-510 and sunitinib, the sorafenib and pazopa- nib Phase II studies have also been designed including histo- logical subtype stratification, acknowledging the fact that soft tissue sarcomas in fact represent a large group of different diseases, which requires a different approach to Phase II study design [28].
ABT-510, a thrombospondin-mimetic was tested in a ran- domized Phase II study in patients with metastatic or unre- sectable STS [29] in which it was given either at 20 mg once a day (n = 42), or 100 mg twice a day (n = 46) subcutaneously in 28-day treatment periods. Median PFS for the 20-mg arm was 94 days, with 4- and 6-month PFS rate estimates of 42 and 24%, respectively. Median PFS for the 200-mg arm was 64 days, with 4- and 6-month PFS rate estimates of 41 and 32%, respectively. These numbers suggest a favorable activity profile of the drug in this group of diseases, despite
the lack of objective regressions. Median OS was 431 days (20 mg) and 295 days (200 mg). Despite these encouraging results, further testing in soft tissue sarcomas was not pursued.
The study on sunitinib [30] followed a traditional design that assumed all soft tissue sarcomas are similar, and involved 53 patients. There was a 20% > 16 weeks stable disease rate, which seems to suggest very limited activity.
The sorafenib study [31] included strata for leiomyosarcoma, malignant peripheral-nerve sheath tumor, synovial sarcoma, vascular sarcomas, high-grade undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma, and a group of “other” sarcomas, whereas the pazopa- nib study [32] included strata for adipocytic sarcomas, leiomyo- sarcomas, synovial sarcomas, as well as “other” soft tissue sarcomas. Both studies applied a Simon optimal two- stage statistical design for each of the cohorts. Given that this design was applied to each tumor cohort separately, these stud- ies became relatively large including 142 and 145 patients in the pazopanib and the sorafenib studies, respectively. In view of the fact that the tyrosine kinase (TK) profiles of these agents are quite similar [31,32], it is interesting to put them into per- spective. Response rates in all studies were very low, so by using traditional criteria for activity, all agents would have been con- sidered as inactive in soft tissue sarcomas. The progression- free survival rates however do suggest this would have been erroneous. If we take the EORTC reference of 40% PFR at 3 months to identify a drug with potential activity [27], sorafe- nib can be potentially active positive in angiosarcoma, high- grade undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma and “other” soft tissue sarcoma, and pazopa- nib can be considered potentially active positive in leiomyosar- coma, synovial sarcoma and “other” histologies, but not in adipocytic sarcomas.

Expert Opin. Pharmacother. (2013) 14(7) 931

Table 1. Pazopanib: most relevant related side effects.

10.7 months with placebo), albeit that this did not reach sta- tistical significance (HR 0.86, p = 0.25). Importantly, we have

Side effect Fatigue
Diarrhea Nausea Hypertension Vomiting
Skin Mucositis
All grades 155 (65%)
138 (58%) 129 (54%) 99 (41%) 80 (33%) 43 (18%) 29 (12%)
Grade 3 — 4 31 (13%)
11 (5%) 8 (3%) 16 (7%) 8 (3%)
1(< 1%)
2(1%)
to realize that the study was not powered to detect a difference in overall survival.
By multivariable Cox model, favorable prognostic factors for treatment with pazopanib were a good performance score (HR for 0 versus 1 was 0.73, 95% CI 0.54 -- 0.99; p = 0.045) and low or intermediate tumor grade (HR for I and II versus III was 0.63, 0.45 -- 0.87; p = 0.006).
The achieved median relative dose intensity was 100% for placebo and 96% for pazopanib with a median duration of

Jointly, the ABT-510, sorafenib and pazopanib studies (Figure 1) suggest that inhibition of angiogenesis is an interesting approach in the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas.

4.Phase III study on pazopanib

Despite the interesting results in the Phase II studies with the different compounds targeting VEGF-VEGFR in STS, only pazopanib was investigated so far in the context of a subse- quent randomized Phase III study [33]. Importantly, this Phase III study excluded bone and Ewing sarcomas, GIST and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans because of known dif- ferent clinical behaviors, as well as liposarcomas because of the results of the Phase II study. Therewith, over 50% of the over- all sarcoma population was excluded. In addition, the study was the first placebo-controlled study in its setting. Despite the diminution of the study population and despite the unpopular placebo control, the investigators were able to reg- ister 372 patients in 17 months. Patients with angiogenesis inhibitor-naive, metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma, with proven progression despite previous systemic therapy, were random- ized in a 2:1 ratio to receive either pazopanib 800 mg once daily or placebo. Treatment was continued until disease pro- gression, unacceptable toxic effects, withdrawal of consent, or death, whatever came first. Cross-over between the arms was not allowed. The treatment post-protocol was left to the discretion of the treating physicians. Of the 369 patients ran- domized, 246 received pazopanib and 123 placebo. The median age was 55 years (IQR 44 -- 64), 342 patients (93%) had received previous systemic therapy for advanced disease, including 207 (56%) that had had two or more lines of treatment. Based on the preceding Phase II study, the trial was powered to detect a 15% difference in progression- free survival at 6 months, from 15% in the control group [27]
to 30% in the pazopanib group. In line with expectations and the preceding Phase II study, 14 of 246 (6%) patients receiv- ing pazopanib achieved a partial response as compared to none on the placebo arm. As best response, 164 (67%) patients achieved stable disease on pazopanib compared to 47 (38%) on placebo. The study met its primary endpoint: the median progression-free survival was 4.6 months for pazo- panib and 1.6 for placebo (hazard ratio [HR] 0.31, 95% CI 0.24 -- 0.40; p < 0.0001). There was also a trend for an overall survival advantage in favor of pazopanib (12.5 months, versus
exposure of almost 20 weeks in the pazopanib arm. This already indicates that pazopanib was relatively well tolerated. Although 99% of the pazopanib-treated patients experienced adverse events (AEs) while on treatment, AEs were also observed in 89% of the patients allocated to the placebo arm, which re- emphasized that inclusion of a placebo arm enables the best possible assessment of treatment-related toxicity. The clinically most relevant side effects and their reported incidences observed in the pazopanib-treated patients are listed in Table 1.
Liver toxicity is a well-known effect from pazopanib. How- ever, most of the observed liver toxicity was mild and rever- sible. Although some toxicity such as diarrhea increases in incidence with treatment duration [32], many side effects seem to occur in the first 8 weeks of treatment, which thus requires close monitoring during the first weeks after treatment start. Adjustment of dose based on side effects is possible; 14 and < 1% of the patients in the pazopanib and placebo arm, respectively, discontinued treatment because of treatment- related adverse events. AEs leading to dose reduction or inter- ruption occurred in 50 and 10% of the pazopanib- and placebo-treated patients. Despite these AEs, quality-of-life data assessed during the first 12 weeks of treatment did not reveal differences between both treatment arms.

5.Expert opinion

Development of pazopanib for the treatment of metastatic soft tissue sarcomas followed a straightforward path. Based on the Phase II study, adipocytic sarcomas were excluded in the Phase III study. It is unknown why pazopanib did not meet the primary endpoint for activity in patients with adipo- cytic tumors included in the Phase II study. Importantly, the group of adipocytic sarcomas is also a heterogeneous group comprising five different subtypes (well-differentiated, de-dif- ferentiated, pleomorphic, myxoid, round cell liposarcomas) with great variety in clinical behavior and molecular back- ground. It might be that pazopanib exerts antitumor activity against one of these adipocytic tumor subtypes and not against the others, but this is speculative and warrants further study. Importantly, the outcomes of the Phase II and III stud- ies are quite consistent. The Phase III study met its primary endpoint and did show a statistically significant improvement in PFS in favor of pazopanib in a heavily pretreated patient population. This effect was noted in all subgroups analyzed.

932 Expert Opin. Pharmacother. (2013) 14(7)

Table 2. Ongoing and scheduled studies on pazopanib in soft tissue sarcomas.

Disease extent
Histological
subtype
Phase of study
Drugs
Study site
ClinicalTrial.gov
identifier

LA, M All STS R II G ± P OHSU, Portland NCT01532687
LA, M Leiomyosarcoma II G + P Unicancer, Paris NCT01442662
LA Preop All STS I/II GD + P MSKCC, New York NCT01418001
LA, M All STS I/II GD + P U. Vermont, Burlington NCT01719302
LA, M All STS R II GD versus GP U. South Carolina, Charleston NCT01593748
LA All STS I P + radiation NCI, Amsterdam --
LA, M Liposarcoma II P GEIS, Barcelona NCT01692496
LA, M Liposarcoma II P ACORN research, Memphis NCT01506596
LA, M Angiosarcoma II P Fox Chase, Philadelphia NCT01462630
M1 refr GIST II P SSG, Lund NCT01524848
LA DFSP II P AHPP, Paris NCT01059656
LA, M Chondrosarcoma II P ACORN research, Memphis NCT01330966

LA Preop LA
All STS All STS
II ima II ima
P ! CT P
Fred Hutchinson, Seattle U. Hadassah, Jerusalem
NCT01446809 NCT01594203

Not recruiting yet:
LA Preop All STS II P U. Heidelberg NCT01543802
M Osteosarcoma II P ACORN, Memphis NCT01759303
LA, M All STS R III Dox versus PDox GSK, Philadelphia Not yet assigned

!: Followed by; AHPP: Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris; CT: Chemotherapy; D: Docetaxel; DFSP: Dermatofibrosarcoma protruberans; Dox: Doxorubicin; G: Gemcitabine; GEIS: Grupo Espanol de Investigacion en Sarcomas; GIST: Gastro-intestinal stromal tumor; GSK: GlaxoSmithKline; ima: Imaging; LA: Locally
advanced; M: Metastatic disease; MSKCC: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; OHSU: Oregon Health & Science University; P: Pazopanib; Preop: Preoperatively (Neoadjuvant); R: Randomized; SSG: Scandinavian Sarcoma Group; STS: Soft tissue sarcoma; U: University.

The study was not powered to detect a difference in overall survival. Powering it for that purpose would have led to over- powering for progression-free survival which created an ethi- cal dilemma. The improvement in PFS seems to translate into an improvement in OS, albeit that due to the design of the study, this was not statistically significant. Unfortunately, quality-of-life data in the Phase III study were only collected for the first 12 weeks of treatment, while patients who went off-study during this time frame, for example because of pro- gressive disease, were excluded for this analysis. This renders it impossible to assess whether a prolongation of PFS is also translated into a better quality-of-life.
This was the first placebo-controlled Phase III study ever performed in non-GIST soft-tissue sarcoma, and also the only randomized Phase III study of treatment after failure of second-line therapy. The outcome data are very robust. In addition the results of the studies with pazopanib are sup- ported by the results of the studies with similar agents in soft tissue sarcomas, all indicating that inhibition of angiogen- esis can lead to relevant clinical benefit in this group of diseases.
Further attempts should now be made to better identify the mechanisms and factors underlying sensitivity and resistance to pazopanib in this heterogeneous group of tumors. Hope- fully, this will yield novel prognostic and predictive factors as well as tools to assess antitumor effects at an early time point during treatment. This will enable a more personalized treat- ment approach thereby avoiding over- and under-treatment in individuals and improving cost-effectiveness. As an exam- ple, an exploratory analysis in the context of the Phase II study
revealed several serum cytokines and angiogenic factors at baseline and changes thereof during treatment that are associ- ated with outcome [34]. In particular the finding in this study that a low soluble VEGFR2 and high PlGF serum levels at week 12, both consistent with VEGFR2 inhibition, is related with poorer efficacy is intriguing. Although counterintuitive at first glance, this may suggest that high PlGF levels may bypass the effects from pazopanib-mediated VEGFR2 block- ade. If these results are confirmed in independent series, such factors can be used to assess response to pazopanib at an early stage during treatment. Other potential means that may serve as tools to come to more individualized treatment with pazo- panib in soft tissue sarcomas include genetic profiles in tumors, blood drug levels, and variants in genes encoding metabolizing enzymes, pazopanib’s targets and cytokines. Fur- thermore, important topics for further studies include the use of pazopanib in earlier lines of treatment and in combination with other agents active against soft tissue sarcomas.
Finally, the relevance of pazopanib in the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas is also exemplified by the large number of cur- rently ongoing and planned studies in this disease (Table 2).
In conclusion, pazopanib constitutes an important new treatment tool for the treatment of non-GIST, nonadipocytic soft tissue sarcoma patients failing or not tolerating prior cytotoxic therapy.

Declaration of interest

Both of the authors have received honoraria from GSK. The paper was also reviewed for data accuracy by GSK.

Expert Opin. Pharmacother. (2013) 14(7) 933

Bibliography

Papers of special note have been highlighted as either of interest (ti) or of considerable interest (titi) to readers.
1.Bovee JV, Hogendoorn PC. Molecular pathology of sarcomas: concepts and clinical implications. Virchows Arch 2010;456:193-9
2.Verweij J, Baker LH. Future treatment of soft tissue sarcomas will be driven by histological subtype and molecular aberrations. Eur J Cancer 2010;46:863-8
3.Casali PG, Blay JY; ESMO/
CONTICANET/EUROBONET Consensus Panel of experts. Soft tissue sarcomas: ESMO clinical practice guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann Oncol
2012;23(Suppl 7):vii92-9
4.Verweij J, Casali PG, Zalcberg J, et al. Progression-free survival in gastrointestinal stromal tumours with high-dose imatinib: randomised trial. Lancet 2004;364:1127-34
5.Demetri GD, Chawla SP,
Von Mehren M, et al. Efficacy and safety of trabectedin in patients with advanced or metastatic liposarcoma of leiomyosarcoma after failure of prior anthracylcines and ifosfamide: results of a randomized phase II study of two different schedules. J Clin Oncol 2009;27:4188-96
6.Demetri GD, von Mehren M,
Blanke CD, et al. Efficacy and safety of imatinib mesylate in advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors. N Engl J Med 2002;347:472-80
7.Blanke CD, Rankin C, Demetri GD, et al. Phase III randomized, intergroup trial assessing imatinib mesylate at two
dose levels in patients with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors expressing the kit receptor tyrosine kinase: S0033. J Clin Oncol 2008;26:626-32
8.Potti A, Ganti AK, Tendulkar K, et al. Determination of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) overexpression in soft tissue sarcomas and the role in leiomyosarcoma. J Cancer Res
Clin Oncol 2004;130:52-6
9.Chao C, Al-Saleem T, Brooks JJ, et al. Vascular endothelial growth factor and soft tissue sarcomas: tumor expression correlated with grade. Ann Surg Oncol 2001;8:260-7
10.Pakos EE, Goussia AC, Tsekeris PG,
et al. Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor, KDR/Flk- 1, in soft tissue sarcomas. Anticancer Res 25:3591-6.2005
11.Yudoh K, Kanamori M, Ohmori K, et al. Concentration of vascular
endothelial growth factor in the tumour tissue as a prognostic factor of soft tissue sarcomas. Br J Cancer
2001;84(12):1610-15
12.Graeven U, Andre N, Achilles E, et al. Serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 1999;125:577-81
13.Hayes AJ, Mostyn-Jones A, Koban MU, et al. Serum vascular endothelial growth factor as a tumour marker in soft tissue sarcoma. Br J Surg 2004;91:242-7
14.Yoon SS, Segal NH, Olshen AB, et al. Circulating angiogenic factor levels correlate with extent of disease and risk of recurrence in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma. Ann Oncol 2004;15:1261-6
15.Yoon SS, Segal NH, Park PJ, et al. Angiogenic profile of soft tissue sarcomas based on analysis of circulating factors and microarray gene expression.
J Surg Oncol 2006;135:282-90
16.Wang J, Coltrera MD, Gown AM, et al. Cell proliferation in human soft tissue tumors correlates with platelet-derived growth factor-B chain expression:
an immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization assay. Cancer Res 1994;560-4
17.Hamberg P, Verweij J, Sleijfer S. (Pre-) clinical pharmacology and activity of pazopanib, a novel multikinase angiogenesis inhibitor. Oncologist 2010;15(6):539-47
18.Kumar R, Knick VB, Rudolph SK, et al. Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic correlation from mouse to human with Pazopanib, a multikinase angiogenesis inhibitor with potent antitumor and angiogenic activity. Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6:2012-21
. Preclinical study on the pharmacodynamic effect of pazopanib.
19.van Geel RMJM, Beijen JH, Schellens JHM. Concise drug review: pazopanib and axitinib. Oncologist 2012;17:1081-9
20.Hurwitz HI, Dowlati A, Saini S, et al. Phase I trial of Pazopanib in patients with advanced cancer. Clin Cancer Res 2009;15:4220-7
. Phase I study on pazopanib.
21.Heath EI, Chiorean EG, Sweeney CJ, et al. A phase I study of the
pharmacokinetic and safety profile of oral Pazopanib with a high-fat or low-fat
meal in patients with advanced solid tumors. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2010;88:818-23
22.de Jonge MJ, Hamberg P, Verweij J,
et al. Phase I and pharmacokinetic study of Pazopanib and lapatinib combination therapy in patients with advanced solid tumors. Invest New Drugs
2012; Epub ahead of print
23.Monk BL, Mas Lopez L, Zarba JJ, et al. Phase II open-label study of pazopanib
or lapatinib monotherapy compared with Pazopanib plus lapatinib combination therapy in patients with advanced and recurrent cervical cancer. J Clin Oncol 2010;28:3562-9
24.Tan AR, Dowlati A, Jones SF, et al. Phase I study of Pazopanib in combination with weekly paclitaxel in patients with advanced solid tumors. Oncologist 2010;15:1253-61
25.Hamberg P, Boers-Sonderen M, Loos WJ, et al. Phase I and
pharmacokinetic study of Pazopanib in combination with two schedules of ifosfamide in patients with advanced solid tumors. J Clin Oncol 2012;30(Suppl):abstract 2593
26.Park MS, Patel SR, Ludwig JA, et al. Activity of temozolomide and bevacizumab in the treatment of locally advanced, recurrent, and metastatic hemangiopericytoma and malignant solitary fibrous tumor. Cancer 2011;117:4939-47
27.Van Glabbeke M, Verweij J, Judson I, et al. Progression-free rate as the principal end-point for phase II trials in soft-tissue sarcomas. Eur J Cancer 2011;38:543-9
.. A landmark study providing progression-free rates at 12 and 24 weeks for active and inactive regimens in advanced soft tissue sarcomas, which have served as
benchmark figures for many Phase II studies in soft tissue sarcoma.

934 Expert Opin. Pharmacother. (2013) 14(7)

28.Verweij J. Soft tissue sarcoma trials: one size no longer fits all. J Clin Oncol 2009;27:3085-7
29.Baker LH, Rowinsky EK, Mendelson D, et al. Randomized, phase II study of the thrombospondin-1-mimetic angiogenesis inhibitor ABT-510 in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma.
J Clin Oncol 2008;26:5583-8
30.George S, Merriam P, Maki RG, et al. Multicenter phase II trial of sunitinib in the treatment of nongastrointestinal stromal tumor sarcomas. J Clin Oncol 2009;27:3154-60
31.Maki RG, D’Adamo DR, Keohan ML, et al. Phase II study of sorafenib in patients with metastatic or recurrent sarcomas. J Clin Oncol 2009;27:3133-40
32.Sleijfer S, Ray-Coquard I, Papai Z, et al. Pazopanib, a multikinase angiogenesis

GW786034
inhibitor, in patients with relapsed or refractory advanced soft tissue sarcoma: a phase II study from the European
Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer– Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group (EORTC Study 62043).
J Clin Oncol 2009;27:3126-32
. An important study showing that pazopanib is not active against adipocytic sarcomas.
33.van der Graaf WT, Blay JY, Chawla SP, et al. Pazopanib for metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma (PALETTE): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled
phase 3 trial. Lancet 2012;379:1879-86
.. Phase III study showing the benefit of pazopanib over placebo in advanced nonadipocytic soft tissue sarcomas.
34.Sleijfer S, Gorlia T, Lamers C, et al. Cytokine and angiogenic factors

associated with efficacy and toxicity of pazopanib in advanced soft-tissue:
an EORTC-STBSG study. Br J Cancer 2012;107:639-45
35.Sternberg CN, Davis ID, Mardiak J,
et al. Pazopanib in locally advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma: results of a randomized phase III trial.
J Clin Oncol 2010;28(6):1061-8

Affiliation
Jaap Verweij† & Stefan Sleijfer †Author for correspondence Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Department of Medical Oncology,
‘ s-Gravendijkwal 230, Room He-116, 3015 CE Rotterdam, The Netherlands E-mail: [email protected]

Expert Opin. Pharmacother. (2013) 14(7) 935