Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth has presented two analyses of the phase III clinical trial of Torisel (temsirolimus) for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) at a poster discussion session at the 43rd American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Ill.

Investigators concluded that Torisel improves overall survival of patients with advanced RCC with both clear-cell and other tumour cell types, and that patients with advanced RCC who were treated with Torisel had significantly greater quality-adjusted survival - a measure that incorporates patient feedback regarding their time without symptoms and side effects - than those treated with interferon-alpha.

Renal cell carcinoma accounts for approximately 85 per cent of kidney cancers. The American Cancer Society estimates that 51,190 new cases of kidney cancer will be diagnosed this year, and more than 40 per cent of patients will be diagnosed initially with advanced disease.

The two abstracts are analyses of data from the pivotal trial of Torisel, an open-label, randomized, phase III clinical trial comparing Torisel or a combination of Torisel plus interferon-alpha to interferon-alpha alone as first-line therapy in 626 patients with advanced RCC and poor prognostic features.

"The results of these analyses expand our understanding of temsirolimus in patients with advanced kidney cancer," says Janice Dutcher, MD, associate director for Clinical Affairs, Our Lady of Mercy Medical Centre, Bronx, NY, and Professor of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY. "The data also improve our knowledge of patients' perception of their health during this time on therapy."