Sutent®: A novel cancer treatment
Sutent® is a cancer drug with a novel mechanism of action: by simultaneously blocking several molecular targets (so-called multi-specificity) of essential importance for the onset of cancer it addresses the complexity of tumorigenesis in a very efficient manner. Prof. Dr Axel Ullrich and his team at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry recognized the need for a multi-specific cancer treatment and developed a concept for interfering with the complex mechanism of tumorigenesis in a targeted way. The company Sugen, founded in 1991 in the US, built on this insight and developed it into a medical application. In 1999 Sugen was bought by Pharmacia, which in turn was acquired by Pfizer in 2003. Subsequently Pfizer pursued the development of Sutent® into a marketable drug. Sutent® was approved by the FDA in January 2006 for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) and renal cell carcinoma. It received EU approval in July 2006.
