Release

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today granted approval to Lenvima (lenvatinib) to treat patients with progressive, differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) whose disease progressed despite receiving radioactive iodine therapy (radioactive iodine refractory disease).

The most common type of thyroid cancer, DTC is a cancerous growth of the thyroid gland which is located in the neck and helps regulate the body’s metabolism. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 62,980 Americans were diagnosed with thyroid cancer and 1,890 died from the disease in 2014. Lenvima is a kinase inhibitor, which works by blocking certain proteins from helping cancer cells grow and divide.

“The development of new therapies to assist patients with refractory disease is of high importance to the FDA,” said Richard Pazdur, M.D., director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Today’s approval gives patients and healthcare professionals a new therapy to help slow the progression of DTC.”

Lenvima was reviewed under the FDA’s priority review program, which provides for an expedited review of drugs that, if approved, would provide significant improvement in safety or effectiveness in the treatment of a serious condition. The drug also received orphan product designation because it is intended to treat a rare disease. Lenvima is being approved approximately two months ahead of the prescription drug user fee goal date of April 14, 2015, the date when the agency was scheduled to complete its review of the application.

Lenvima’s efficacy was demonstrated in 392 participants with progressive, radioactive iodine-refractory DTC who were randomly assigned to receive either Lenvima or a placebo.  Study results showed Lenvima-treated participants lived a median of 18.3 months without their disease progressing (progression-free survival), compared to a median of 3.6 months for participants who received a placebo. Additionally, 65 percent of participants treated with Lenvima saw a reduction in tumor size, compared to the two percent of participants who received a placebo. A majority of participants randomly assigned to receive the placebo were treated with Lenvima upon disease progression.

The most common side effects of Lenvima were high blood pressure (hypertension), fatigue, diarrhea, joint and muscle pain (arthralgia/myalgia), decreased appetite, decreased weight, nausea, inflammation of the lining of the mouth (stomatitis), headache, vomiting, excess protein in the urine (proteinuria), swelling and pain in the palms, hands and/or the soles of the feet (palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome), abdominal pain and changes in voice volume or quality (dysphonia).

Lenvima may cause serious side effects, including cardiac failure, blood clot formation (arterial thromboembolic events), liver damage (hepatotoxicity), kidney damage (renal failure and impairment), an opening in the wall of the stomach or intestines (gastrointestinal perforation) or an abnormal connection between two parts of the stomach or intestines (fistula formation), changes in the heart’s electrical activity (QT Interval Prolongation), low levels of calcium in the blood (hypocalcemia), the simultaneous occurrence of headache, confusion, seizures and visual changes (Reversible Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome), serious bleeding (hemorrhage), risks to an unborn child if a patient becomes pregnant during treatment, and impairing suppression of the production of thyroid-stimulating hormone.

Lenvima is marketed by Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Eisai Inc.