Study summary

Cabozantinib slowed thyroid cancer that had stopped responding to iodine and earlier drugs

COSMIC-311 trial · 258 people · Published January 2024, Thyroid

What was tested

Cabozantinib, a daily targeted pill, against placebo in advanced thyroid cancer that no longer responds to radioactive iodine and has grown on lenvatinib or sorafenib.

What they found

• In papillary cancer, the time before the cancer grew was 9.2 months with cabozantinib and 1.9 months with placebo.
• The benefit held whether people had taken sorafenib, lenvatinib or both before.
• Few tumors shrank: 4% to 21% depending on earlier treatment.

What it means

An approved option after first-line drugs stop working. It slows growth more than it shrinks tumors.