Drug used for kidney cancer extends life of liver cancer victims

A drug approved for treating kidney cancer also has been found to extend the life of patients with advanced liver cancer, according to a US study published Monday

The medication, which goes by the generic name of Sorafenib and is sold as Nexavar by the German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer, has been authorized in the United States and Europe to treat advanced kidney cancer.

Patients in the study given Nexavar on average survived 10.7 months, compared to just 7.9 months for those taking a placebo -- a 44 percent difference.

"This is the first time that we've had an effective systemic treatment for liver cancer," said Joseph Llovet, who heads liver cancer research at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the lead author of the research.

The findings were released at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) here in Chicago.

"Our findings demonstrated survival advantages that are both statistically significant and clinically meaningful," said Llovet.

In the study of 602 liver cancer patients, 299 took 400 milligrams of Nexavar two times a day for six months, while the rest took a placebo. Cancer progress was also slowed among those taking Nexavar compared to those taking the placebo.

Side effects of the drug include diarrhea and skin reactions to the hands and feet.

"Although much progress has been made in cancer research, the number of lives lost to liver cancer is increasing," said Jordi Bruix, the study's main co-author and a specialist at the University of Barcelona in Spain.

"These results represent a significant achievement -- Sorafenib could become the first widely approved new therapy for this difficult to treat cancer," he said.

Liver cancer is the third deadliest type of cancer in the world after lung and colon cancer.

Around 40 percent of liver cancer is diagnosed at an advanced stage, with that proportion reaching 80 percent in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In the United States more than 19,000 people are diagnosed annually with liver cancer, and some 17,000 die each year of the disease.

The results of the test are also good news for Bayer, which hopes to also use Nexavar for other types of advanced forms of cancer.

With a potential of annual sales estimated at a billion euros a year, Nexavar is one of the great hopes of Bayer's health division, strengthened in 2006 by the purchase of the German-based pharmaceutical Schering AG.

source:news.yahoo.com