kidney drug approved from phase 2

Pfizers drug Stutent, the current leading Renal cell cancer drug was approved straight from phase 2 trials.
Solbec is starting Phase 2 trials for Renal cell cancer. Stutent has achieved 11 months progression free survival.
"he European Commission's conditional authorization of Sutent to treat mRCC patients who have failed interferon alfa and interleukin-2 therapies was based on data from two phase II open label studies. In these trials, Sutent-treated patients experienced an objective response rate of 38% in the confirmatory study and 36.5% in the supportive study.

Sutent is currently going head-to-head in the mRCC marketplace with Bayer and Onyx' Nexavar (sorafenib), which was approved by the FDA last December and the European Commission in July for the second-line treatment of advanced kidney cancer, as well as in patients who are not eligible for current first-line therapy with interferon alfa and/or interleukin-2.

Until now, there has been little differentiation between these two orally available multi-targeted inhibitors. While Nexavar has proved itself in a greater number of patients in clinical trials, Sutent may have an efficacy advantage.

In June 2006, phase III data were presented demonstrating that newly-diagnosed, previously untreated mRCC patients treated with Sutent had a progression free survival of 11 months, versus five months for those patients who received interferon alfa."
http://www.pharmaceutical-business-review.com/article_feature.asp?guid=76060156-604D-4119-88FA-BF5757054E7A