The FDA recently approved vandetanib [van det´ a nib] (Caprelsa – AstraZeneca) for oral treatment of symptomatic or progressive medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic disease. Vandetanib is the first drug approved in the US for medullary thyroid cancer.

MEDULLARY THYROID CANCER (MTC) — Medullary thyroid cancer is rare; it is found in about 4% of all thyroid cancers. Total thyroidectomy is the first-line therapy; various chemotherapy regimens including doxorubicin, dacarbazine and 5-fluorouracil have been tried for nonresectable disease with limited success.1

MECHANISM OF ACTION — Vandetanib is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor that inactivates vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and rearrangedduring- transfection (RET) tyrosine kinases, ... more      

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