This post will be a little different from most of the expert posts on GRACE. I’m not an expert. I’m not an oncologist. In fact, I’m not a physician. I’m a patient with a social science background, and I’ve followed the work on the drug I’m writing about for some time.

I’ve been interested in Zactima (vandetanib) for two reasons. First, I thought the early trials looked promising, and it might eventually be a drug that could help me. Second (and this is going to drive Dr. West crazy), the four large phase III trials of Zactima have really catchy acronyms (see below).

I’m no expert on the biology, but it appears that Zactima is a cross between Tarceva (erlotinib) and Avastin (bevacizumab). It is taken as a pill, once a day at home (also appealing to me). Phase II trials were promising enough that Zactima progressed to four phase III trials (large, double-blind and randomized trials that attempt to compare it with other established treatments). Let’s look at those.

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