{"entity":{"id":"zeta","kind":"trial","name":"ZETA","aka":[],"tldr":"ZETA showed that vandetanib, a pill blocking the RET protein that drives most medullary thyroid cancers along with the tumour blood supply, kept advanced disease from growing for much longer than placebo, and it became the first drug ever approved for this rare cancer.","summary":"ZETA was a double-blind placebo-controlled phase 3 trial in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer, both hereditary and sporadic. Patients were randomised two to one to vandetanib, an oral inhibitor of RET, VEGF receptor and EGFR signalling, or to placebo, with open-label vandetanib offered at progression.\n\nVandetanib significantly prolonged progression-free survival, the primary endpoint, and improved response and biochemical markers; overall survival was not different, in part because of crossover. Approval in the United States in April 2011 made vandetanib the first drug for advanced medullary thyroid cancer, followed by cabozantinib after EXAM in 2012 and the selective RET inhibitors selpercatinib and pralsetinib in 2020. QT prolongation limits its use.","status":"positive","asOf":"2026-09-17","links":[{"label":"ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00410761","url":"https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT00410761"}],"tags":["subtype-trials"],"related":[],"cancers":["medullary-thyroid-cancer","thyroid"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["vandetanib"],"companies":["astrazeneca","sanofi"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":["samuel-wells"],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-zeta-vandetanib-mtc-wells-jco-2012"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"nct":"NCT00410761","phase":"3","setting":"Unresectable locally advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer: vandetanib against placebo, with open-label vandetanib allowed at progression","sponsor":"AstraZeneca (later Genzyme, a Sanofi company)","result":"Vandetanib prolonged progression-free survival over placebo in advanced medullary thyroid cancer; approved in April 2011 as the first drug for the disease.","yearReported":2012,"enrolled":331,"outcomes":[]},"route":"/trials/zeta/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"medullary-thyroid-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Medullary thyroid cancer","route":"/cancers/medullary-thyroid-cancer/"},{"id":"thyroid","kind":"cancer","name":"Thyroid cancer","route":"/cancers/thyroid/"}],"drug":[{"id":"vandetanib","kind":"drug","name":"Vandetanib","route":"/drugs/vandetanib/"}],"company":[{"id":"astrazeneca","kind":"company","name":"AstraZeneca","route":"/companies/astrazeneca/"},{"id":"sanofi","kind":"company","name":"Sanofi","route":"/companies/sanofi/"}],"person":[{"id":"samuel-wells","kind":"person","name":"Samuel A. Wells Jr.","route":"/people/samuel-wells/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-zeta-vandetanib-mtc-wells-jco-2012","kind":"paper","name":"ZETA: vandetanib in locally advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-zeta-vandetanib-mtc-wells-jco-2012/"}]}}