Dr. Escudier on Patients Preferring Pazopanib for mRCC

Bernard J. Escudier, MD, a physician at the Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, discusses the PISCES study, which sought to find the patient preferred first-line therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) by comparing patient-reported preferences for sunitinib (Sutent) and pazopanib (Votrient).

The trial randomized 169 patients with mRCC to receive alternating 10-week doses of either sunitinib or pazopanib, with a 2-week washout period between therapies. At the end of the 22-week cycle, questionnaires were collected asking participants to provide their preferred treatment.

The trial found that 70% of patients preferred pazopanib to sunitinib. Only 22% said they preferred sunitinib while the remainder did not have a treatment preference. Previous information showed a trend towards pazopanib being the preferred treatment but Escudier notes that the overall range of difference was surprising.

The most commonly reported reasons for preferring pazopanib were better quality of life and less fatigue. According to Escudier, every questionnaire reported that quality of life was better with pazopanib.

Multiple drugs are currently approved for the first-line use in mRCC. Escudier adds that trials examining the tolerability of one drug over the other aid the decision process for physicians and patients.