Management of sunitinib adverse events in renal cell carcinoma patients: The Asian experience

Abstract

Sunitinib is the gold standard of care for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, demonstrating an overall survival benefit of over 2 years in a pivotal phase 3 trial of 750 patients. While sunitinib is generally well tolerated with most adverse events, manifesting as mild to moderate in severity and manageability, it has a distinctive adverse event profile that benefits from careful monitoring during treatment. As sunitinib gains widespread use across the globe, best practices are being developed for specific patient groups. This review will focus on the current clinical trial data in Asian populations and on the mechanism, incidence and management of selected sunitinib-related adverse events, including hand-foot syndrome, hypertension, proteinuria, cardiac toxicities, myelosupression, fatigue/asthenia, hypothyroidism, diarrhea and hepatotoxicity. Taken together, the developing body of literature reviewed here demonstrates that sunitinib is well tolerated in Asian patients and provides efficacy that is similar, if not superior, to other patient groups. Asian patients, like all patients, should begin treatment of sunitinib at 50 mg on Schedule 4/2 (4 weeks on treatment/2 weeks off). Prophylactic measures, good communication between patient and health-care providers, and early, aggressive intervention at the development of adverse events can limit the dose reductions required and maximize both patients' response to treatment and their quality of life.