Exelixis Initiates Phase 3 Clinical Trial of Cabozantinib

Exelixis, Inc.

today announced that it has initiated CELESTIAL, a phase 3 pivotal trial comparing cabozantinib with placebo in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have previously been treated with sorafenib. The primary endpoint for the trial is overall survival (OS). “Patients with advanced HCC who have progressed on sorafenib have few therapeutic options, and new approaches to managing their disease are much needed,” said Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, M.D., Associate Attending at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York and the lead investigator on CELESTIAL. “Phase 2 data investigating cabozantinib in this patient population are worthy of more study, and cabozantinib's target profile, which includes inhibition of both MET and VEGFR,