Bayer’s Nexavar Promising for Liver Cancer

Bayer’s Nexavar improved survival of liver cancer patients in a phase 3 trial presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.

Nexavar, which Bayer is developing with Onyx, extended survival of primary liver cancer patients by 44 percent compared to those taking placebo.

The companies said they are now preparing applications to the Food and Drug Administration and European regulators for a supplement indication for Nexavar, which is currently approved for treating advanced kidney cancer.

These results represent an unprecedented achievement and Nexavar could become the first widely approved new therapy for this difficult to treat cancer, Jordi Bruix, co-principal investigator of the phase 3 trial and director of the Barcelona clinic liver cancer group at the hospital clinic of Barcelona, said in a statement issued by Bayer.

In the study, which is known as the SHARP trial, 602 liver cancer patients received Nexavar or placebo. Median overall survival in the Nexavar group was 10.7 months compared to 7.9 months in the placebo arm. No significant differences in serious adverse event rates were detected between the two groups.