What is advanced thyroid cancer?
Thyroid cancer is a cancer that starts in your thyroid gland. The most common types of thyroid cancer are papillary and follicular. Other types include Hurthle, medullary, and anaplastic. Thyroid cancer may spread or metastasize to other parts of the body, including lungs, bones, and occasionally the brain. People with thyroid cancer who have cancer cells in these parts of the body likely have advanced or metastatic cancer.
Advanced thyroid cancer can be driven by a gene in your body. One of those genes is RET.
Talk to your doctor to see if your cancer is RET-positive.Retevmo is available for RET-positive advanced thyroid cancer
RET=rearranged during transfection.
Retevmo may help by targeting what is driving your RET-positive advanced thyroid cancer
Retevmo was studied in the largest clinical trial of people with RET-positive cancers. The trial included 344 people with advanced thyroid cancer (including medullary, papillary, poorly differentiated, anaplastic, and Hurthle cell), and 170 had tumors that were eligible to be evaluated for shrinkage. The trial evaluated how many people responded to treatment, which means their tumors either shrank or disappeared completely, and how long the response lasted.
Retevmo may affect both healthy cells and tumor cells, which can result in side effects, some of which can be serious.
Retevmo has been shown to shrink tumors in the majority of people with RET-positive advanced medullary thyroid cancer (MTC)
of the 55 people who had prior cancer treatments* had an objective response, meaning their tumors shrank by 30% or more
- Median† length of response has not yet been reached, as the trial is ongoing
of the 88 people who had not received certain standards of care‡ had an objective response
- Responses lasted a median† of 22 months
*Cabozantinib and/or vandetanib.
†Median is the middle number in a set of numbers.
‡Not treated with cabozantinib and/or vandetanib.
SELECT SAFETY INFORMATION
High blood pressure (hypertension): High blood pressure is common with RETEVMO and may sometimes be serious. You should check your blood pressure regularly during treatment with RETEVMO. Tell your doctor if you get any of the following symptoms:
- confusion
- headaches
- shortness of breath
- dizziness
- chest pain
Retevmo has been shown to shrink tumors in the majority of people with other RET-positive advanced thyroid cancers
of the 19 people who had prior cancer treatments§ had an objective response
- Responses lasted a median† of 18.4 months
of the 8 people who had not received certain standards of care|| had an objective response
- Median† length of response has not yet been reached, as the trial is ongoing
†Median is the middle number in a set of numbers.
§Radioactive iodine in addition to other systemic therapy, including lenvatinib and/or sorafenib.
||Not treated with systemic therapies other than radioactive iodine.
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Common side effects
The most common side effects of RETEVMO include:
- increased levels of liver enzymes
- increased blood sugar levels
- decrease in white blood cell count
- decreased protein levels (albumin) in the blood
- decreased levels of calcium in the blood
- dry mouth
- diarrhea
- increased creatinine (kidney function test)
- high blood pressure
- tiredness
- swelling of your arms, legs, hands, and feet (peripheral edema)
- decrease in platelet count
- increased cholesterol levels
- rash
- decreased levels of salt (sodium) in the blood
- constipation
RETEVMO may affect fertility in females and males, which may affect your ability to have children. Talk to your doctor if this is a concern for you.
These are not all the possible side effects with RETEVMO.
Tell your doctor if you have any side effects. You can report side effects at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.
Learn how to take Retevmo.
Read more about what could be driving your cancer.