Pfizer has enlisted PR agency Reynolds-Mackenzie to support the UK launch and subsequent development of its potential blockbuster kidney cancer drug Sutent.

Replacing previous account holder Weber Shandwick, the agency will conduct PR and media relations activities for healthcare professionals and will also manage patient group relationships.

Sutent (sunitinib) is available in the UK as a second-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and gastrointestinal stromal tumour.

As well as guiding it through the launch period, it is thought that the agency will also support Sutent in any subsequent indications, including Pfizer's current application for first-line status in advanced RCC.

Sutent is an oral therapy in a new class of multi-targeted drugs that attack cancer by inhibiting both tumour growth and blood supply.

In July, a rival advanced renal cell carcinoma treatment, Bayer's Nexavar, was approved in Europe. Nexavar was granted FDA approval in January  when it became the first new treatment for the disease in 10 years. Sutent and Nexavar are both expected to reach peak-year sales of more than $1 billion.

In addition to Sutent, Reynolds-Mackenzie is also working on Pfizer's hormonal breast cancer treatment Aromasin - one of the three aromatase inhibitors which received a preliminary recommendation from NICE in May.

The central London agency was founded in 2004 by directors Eva Reynolds and Alison MacKenzie. Its other accounts include project work for biotech company Amgen and providing PR and media support for Roche's transplant rejection drug Cellcept.

pharmafocus@wiley.co.uk