Benzinga | Aug 5, 2021 08:24AM EDT

Exelixis Announces U.S. FDA Accepts For Priority Review The Supplemental New Drug Application For CABOMETYX For Patients With Previously Treated Radioactive Iodine-Refractory Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the company's supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for CABOMETYX(r) (cabozantinib) as a treatment for patients 12 years and older with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) who have progressed following prior therapy and are radioactive iodine-refractory (if radioactive iodine is appropriate). The FDA granted Priority Review designation and assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of December 4, 2021.

"The FDA's acceptance of our sNDA with Priority Review is an important step toward our goal of bringing CABOMETYX to patients with previously treated radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer," said Michael M. Morrissey, Ph.D., Exelixis' President and Chief Executive Officer. "Considering the lack of a standard of care in the treatment of this cancer following anti-VEGFR therapy, the progression-free survival benefit demonstrated in the phase 3 COSMIC-311 pivotal trial means CABOMETYX, if approved, could become an important new treatment for these patients."

The sNDA is based on the results of COSMIC-311, a phase 3 pivotal trial evaluating CABOMETYX versus placebo in patients with radioactive iodine-refractory DTC who progressed after up to two prior vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-targeted therapies. At a planned interim analysis, CABOMETYX met one of the trial's primary endpoints, demonstrating a significant improvement in progression-free survival versus placebo. In February 2021, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to CABOMETYX as a potential treatment for patients with DTC that has progressed following prior therapy and who are radioactive iodine-refractory (if radioactive iodine is appropriate) based on these results. Detailed study findings were presented at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting and were published by The Lancet Oncology in July 2021.