A study looking at pazopanib after chemotherapy in people with advanced non small cell lung cancer (MAPPING - EORTC 08092)

The trial team found that having pazopanib after chemotherapy wasn’t a useful treatment for people with advanced non small lung cancer.

The people taking part were put into 1 of 2 groups at random.

• 50  people had pazopanib
• 52 people had the dummy drug (placebo )

The researchers looked at the early results of the first 102 people who took part. They looked at the average length of time people lived without any signs of their disease getting worse. Researchers call this progression free survival. They found that on average, this was

• Just over 4 months in the people who had pazopanib
• Just over 3 months in the people who had the dummy drug.

The research team had planned to recruit more people but based on these results, the trial team found that the treatment hadn’t worked as well as they had hoped. They decided it was best not to recruit any more people.

The main side effects of pazopanib were mild and included

• High blood pressure
• A drop in the number of white blood cells
• A raised level of an enzyme  in the liver called ALT

The trial team concluded that having pazopanib after chemotherapy didn’t control the cancer for longer. They say that pazopanib couldn’t be looked at in future trials for this group of people without looking at biomarkers.  

We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.