Bayer HealthCare begins enrolment for phase III Nexavar trial

Bayer HealthCare has begun enrolling patients for a new clinical study of a novel cancer treatment regimen involving its drug Nexavar.

In association with partner Onyx Pharmaceuticals, the company will be trialling a combination of Nexavar tablets and the chemotherapeutic agent capecitabine among advanced breast cancer patients.

The trial will compare the therapy to capecitabine plus placebo and has been initiated based on the positive data collated from an earlier phase II study.

It is hoped that results from the current trial, which will involve 519 patients from more than 20 countries, will validate the findings of the preceding investigation.

Dr Dimitris Voliotis, vice-president of global clinical development for oncology at Bayer HealthCare, said: "We look forward to continuing our breast cancer clinical trial programme … to gain additional understanding of how Nexavar may play a role in the advanced breast cancer treatment paradigm."

Last month, Bayer HealthCare and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals began a phase III study of VEGF Trap-Eye against choroidal neovascularisation of the retina caused by pathologic myopia.