Bayer announces positive liver cancer drug results

Bayer HealthCare, a subsidiary of Bayer, has with Onyx Pharmaceuticals announced the results of a phase III clinical study investigating Nexavar (sorafenib) as a treatment for liver cancer.

Presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the trial results showed that in hepatocellular carcinoma or primary liver cancer patients, administration with the compound increased overall survival by 44 per cent.

Nexavar is an orally-administered multi-kinase inhibitor that targets tumour cells and tumour vasculature and does not require an interruption in the treatment schedule of patients.

The compound is already approved in Europe as a treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who have shown an insufficient response to therapy with interferon-alpha or interleukin-2 based treatments.

Dr Jordi Bruix, co-principal investigator and head of the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer, said: “Although much progress has been made in cancer research, the number of lives lost to liver cancer is increasing.”

He added that, consequently, this study data indicates an exceptional success, with Nexavar having the potential to be the first new therapy for liver cancer to be widely approved.

In February 2007, Onyx and Bayer announced the halting of a phase III trial of Nexavar after an independent committee adjudged the compound to have met its primary endpoint.