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Does Cabometyx (cabozantinib) cure cancer?

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on March 27, 2025.

Official answer

by Drugs.com

Cabometyx (cabozantinib) does not cure cancer. It is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is approved to treat:

  • Advanced renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer)
  • Advanced renal cell carcinoma, as a first-line treatment in combination with nivolumab (Opdivo)
  • Hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) in people who have previously been treated with sorafenib (Nexavar)
  • Advanced or metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer that has progressed following VEGFR-targeted therapy in people who do not respond or are unable to take radioactive iodine
  • Pancreatic and extra-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNET and epNET).

Cabometyx is used to delay the progression of cancer and increase the length of time a person with cancer survives for. How effective Cabometyx is at doing this depends on the type of cancer a person has and how advanced it is.

Patients on Cabometyx typically keep taking it until their cancer progresses or they have to stop because of side effects or adverse reactions.

References

Read next

How long do you take Cabometyx for?

Cabometyx (cabozantinib) is taken until disease progression - the cancer starts to get worse - or you can no longer tolerate therapy because of the side effects or adverse reactions.

In clinical trials the median amount of time patients took Cabometyx for before their cancer progressed was:

  • METEOR trial - 7.4 months (95% CI 5.6, 9.1)
  • CABOSUN trial - 8.6 months (95% CI 6.8, 14.0)
  • CELESTIAL trial - 5.2 months (95% CI 4.0, 5.5)
  • CHECKMATE-9ER trial - 16.6 months (95% CI 12.5, 24.9)
  • COSMIC-311 - 11 months (95% CI 7.4, 13.8)
Continue reading

What is the success rate of Cabometyx (cabozantinib)?

How successful Cabometyx (cabozantinib) is can be measured by how:

  • Long patients take the treatment for
  • Long patients survive for without their cancer getting worse (progression-free survival)
  • Many months patients remain alive for while taking the treatment
  • Many patients respond to the drug
Continue reading

Is Cabometyx a chemotherapy drug?

Cabometyx (cabozantinib) is a targeted treatment that targets specific enzymes that are more commonly associated with cancer growth and works differently from traditional chemotherapy agents that kill all cells (both healthy and cancerous) that are in the process of dividing. However, Cabometyx is used to treat cancer, and some people may refer to it as chemotherapy, although a targeted treatment is the more correct term. Continue reading

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