osure to one or more cycles of SUTENT demonstrated no evidence of adrenal hemorrhage or necrosis. ACTH stimulation testing was performed in approximately 400 patients across multiple clinical trials of SUTENT. Among patients with normal baseline ACTH stimulation testing, one patient developed consistently abnormal test results during treatment that are unexplained and may be related to treatment with SUTENT. Eleven additional patients with normal baseline testing had abnormalities in the final test performed, with peak cortisol levels of 12–16.4 mcg/dL (normal >18 mcg/dL) following stimulation. None of these patients were reported to have clinical evidence of adrenal insufficiency.
CBCs with platelet count and serum chemistries including phosphate should be performed at the beginning of each treatment cycle for patients receiving treatment with SUTENT.
The data described below reflect exposure to SUTENT in 577 patients who participated in the double-blind treatment phase of a placebo-controlled trial (n=202) for the treatment of GIST [see Clinical Studies (14.1)] or an active-controlled trial (n=375) for the treatment of RCC [see Clinical Studies (14.2)]. The patients received a starting oral dose of 50 mg daily on Schedule 4/2 in repeated cycles.
The most common adverse reactions (≥20%) in patients with GIST or RCC are fatigue, asthenia, fever, diarrhea, nausea, mucositis/stomatitis, vomiting, dyspepsia, abdominal pain, constipation, hypertension, peripheral edema, rash, hand-foot syndrome, skin discoloration, dry skin, hair color changes, altered taste, headache, back pain, arthralgia, extremity pain, cough, dyspnea, anorexia, and bleeding. The potentially serious adverse reactions of hepatotoxicity, left ventricular dysfunction, QT interval prolongation, hemorrhage, hypertension, thyroid dysfunction, and adrenal function are discussed in Warnings and Precautions (5). Other adverse reactions occurring in GIST and RCC studies are described below.
Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice.
Median duration of blinded study treatment was two cycles for patients on SUTENT (mean 3.0, range 1–9) and one cycle (mean 1.8, range 1–6) for patients on placebo at the time of the interim analysis. Dose reductions occurred in 23 patients (11%) on SUTENT and none on placebo. Dose interruptions occurred in 59 patients (29%) on SUTENT and 31 patients (30%) on placebo. The rates of treatment-emergent, non-fatal adverse reactions resulting in permanent discontinuation were 7% and 6% in the SUTENT and placebo groups, respectively.
Most treatment-emergent adverse reactions in both study arms were Grade 1 or 2 in severity. Grade 3 or 4 treatment-emergent adverse reactions were reported in 56% versus 51% of patients on SUTENT versus placebo, respectively, in the double-blind treatment phase of the trial. Table 1 compares the incidence of common (≥10%) treatment-emergent adverse reactions for patients receiving SUTENT and reported more commonly in patients receiving SUTENT than in patients receiving placebo.
In the double-blind treatment phase of GIST Study A, oral pain other than mucositis/stomatitis occurred in 12 patients (6%) on SUTENT versus 3 (3%) on placebo. Hair color change
