Common side effects of VEGF directed therapies
The most commonly reported moderate-to-severe side effects in the pivotal trial of sunitinib were hypertension, fatigue, diarrhea, and hand-foot syndrome. Similarly, diarrhea, rash, fatigue, and hand-foot skin reactions were the most frequently reported adverse events in the pivotal trial of sorafenib.
Early results from the phase III randomized trial comparing pazopanib and placebo suggested the most frequent adverse events with pazopanib were diarrhea, hypertension, hair color change, nausea, and anorexia. Liver enzymes were also abnormally elevated in a large proportion of patients.