Study

Pfizer's Sutent causes heart failure in some

Sutent starves tumours and stops them from growing blood vessels that feed them

Fifteen per cent of patients who took Sutent, a pill used for treating kidney and stomach cancers, developed heart failure, US researchers reported. The study, presented at a meeting of cancer specialists, confirmed other studies that suggest that the drug causes the risky but reversible side-effect. Sutent, made under the generic name Sunitinib by Pfizer, has also been shown to damage heart cells. "Our data demonstrate the need for routine cardiac monitoring in patients receiving Sunitinib," said Dr Melinda Telli of the Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

"Cardiac adverse effects need to be carefully examined in future trials of Sunitinib to determine the factors that place patients at risk for this compli-cation. That information will allow us to administer this medication more safely to patients." While heart failure is serious, it can be treated with a variety of drugs. When caused by drugs, stopping the medication usually clears up the problem.

Her team studied 48 patients with kidney cancer or gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) who got Sutent. Seven of them, or 15 per cent, experienced heart failure; she told the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.

Sutent starves tumours and stops them from growing blood vessels that feed them. It is being widely tested for the treatment of several other cancers. In December, researchers reported in the medical journal Lancet that half of 75 patients with GIST who took the drug in a clinical trial developed high blood pressure, eight per cent develo-ped heart failure, and two had heart attacks.

Reuters