Does Votrient cure cancer or shrink tumors?

Votrient is not a cure for cancer, but it does increase progression-free survival – this is the length of time during and after treatment that a patient lives with the disease but it does not get worse – and can shrink or slow the growth of kidney cancer in some people. Effects are more pronounced in previously untreated patients.

• Progression-free survival was, on average, 9.2 months with Votrient compared with 4.2 months among patients given a placebo (an inactive treatment) in a trial that involved 435 patients with locally advanced or metastatic RCC
• Progression-free survival among previously untreated patients was 11.1 months with Votrient compared with 2.8 months among patients given a placebo
• Among previously treated patients, progression-free survival was 7.4 months among patients treated with Votrient and 4.2 months among patients given a placebo
• The most common side effects of Votrient were diarrhea (52%), high blood pressure (40%), hair color changes (38%), nausea (26%), weight loss (22%), and vomiting (21%)
• A preliminary study in children and adults with advanced soft tissue sarcoma showed that adding Votrient to chemotherapy and radiation treatment was safe and increased the chances that most of the tumor was dead before surgery.

Votrient is an oral tablet that is taken once daily to treat adults with soft tissue sarcoma who have received prior chemotherapy or advanced renal cell carcinoma.