Pazopanib efficacy and toxicity in a metastatic sarcoma cohort: Are Indian patients different?

There is no study till date determining the spectrum of adverse events of pazopanib in Indian patients with advanced sarcoma.

We conducted a retrospective study by analyzing the case records of metastatic sarcoma patients treated with pazopanib from January 2016 to July 2017 in sarcoma medical oncology clinic. Toxicity was assessed according to CTCAE v.4.03 criteria. SPSS version 23 was used for statistical evaluation.

A total of 33 patients received pazopanib. The median age was 41 years (range, 19-75 years), with a male predominance (54.5%). Twenty-six patients (78.8%) had ECOG performance status 1 at the time of pazopanib initiation. The most common type of sarcoma was synovial sarcoma, and the mean duration of pazopanib intake in patients was 4.12 months. The median follow-up was 13 months. Median progression-free survival was 5 months, and median overall survival was 18 months. Overall response rate was 6.0%. Out of the 33 patients, 42.4% (n = 14) received it after first line of therapy. Six patients (18.2%) required dose reductions due to toxicity. Thirteen (39.4%) patients experienced CTCAE grade 3 or 4 toxicities. Most common grade 3 and 4 toxicities experienced among patients were hand-foot skin reaction (18.2%) and proteinuria (9.1%). No significant difference was seen when analyzed for variables such as age, sex, ECOG performance status, comorbidities, and number of previous lines received in patients experiencing grade 3 and 4 toxicities.

The spectrum of adverse events in Indian patients at doses lower than the recommended dose is distinctly different from the western population. However, this unique toxicity profile needs to be validated in prospective studies.