Cabozantinib shows promise as first line treatment for differentiated thyroid cancer

A kinase inhibitor called cabozantinib could be a viable therapy option for patients with metastatic, radioactive iodine-resistant thyroid cancer. In a trial initiated and led by the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, tumours shrunk in 34 out of 35 patients who took the drug, and more than half of those patients saw the tumour size decrease by more than 30 percent.
As part of a phase II trial, Dr Marcia S. Brose, an Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery and director of the Center for Rare Cancers and Personalized Therapy at Penn and her team gave the drug as a first line therapy to 35 patients with metastatic, radioactive iodine-resistant thyroid cancer starting in March of 2014.