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Posted by GBI Analyst Chen Libin

In China, there are at least 120,000 fatalities attributed to liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma or HCC) each year, accounting for 44% of the total global mortality rate caused by the disease; HCC also ranks as the second deadliest tumor in China with about 30 million patients diagnosed with the disease annually. China’s medical and research community continues to place increasing interest and emphasis on liver cancer - not only in its treatment and management but also in basic research. A recent study of note was an animal-model investigation involving the use of sorafenib (Nexavar by Bayer), a small molecule tyrosine protein kinase (VEGFR and PDGFR) inhibitor approved for the treatment of advanced primary kidney and liver cancers (renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma). Conducted by experts from Shanghai Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute and the Second Military Medical University, the sorafenib study found that the drug can suppress postsurgical recurrence and metastasis of HCC (in mouse models).

In China, there are currently over 25 clinical trials involving sorafenib in different clinical sites across the nation, 11 of which are for HCC, 2 for “advanced HCC”, and 15 for kidney cancer/RCC. Bayer has sponsored most of these clinical trials, with other sponsors including Fudan University and Sun Yat-sen University. According to GBI SOURCE, the total number of academic papers in China mentioning sorafenib is 66, 27 of which were related to HCC and 15 to RCC. Of a total of 2,000+ products listed on GBI SOURCE, sorafenib ranked at 380 among drugs mentioned in academic papers in China.

In this recent study, the researchers examined the role of sorafenib in the prevention of HCC recurrence. They found that the drug can suppress the development of intrahepatic recurrence and abdominal metastasis as demonstrated by a prolonged post-operative survival of studied mice. The drug has also demonstrated effectiveness in inhibiting growth of recurrent tumors, suggesting that sorafenib may have a potential use to reduce hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence in (early-stage) hepatectomy patients.