As introduced in the last post, ZD6474, or Zactima, is a pill that blocks tumor blood supply and at higher doses (in the 300 mg per day range) also blocks EGFR. This mutli-targeted therapy has shown some intriguing activity when combined with chemo, and today I'll focus on the research that gave it as a single agent and where it has led us in terms of current trials.

In prior posts I've described the idea of combining targeted agents like Tarceva and Avastin, but there are also some single agents that inhibit multiple targets within cancer cells. I've described sorafenib/nexavar in a prior post. Today I'll focus on another multi-targeted agent, known previously as ZD6474, and with a marketing name of Zactima. Similar to the combination of avastin and tarceva, this single oral drug is anti-angiogenic and also blocks EGFR. Although less well studied, it also blocks a protein called RET and can inhibit cell proliferation that way.