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The multikinase inhibitor regorafenib significantly improved overall survival rates compared to placebo in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, according to data from the phase 3 RESORCE trial presented at the ESMO 18th World Congress of Gastrointestinal Cancer.
“Systemic treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma has long consisted of just one agent, sorafenib, which was shown to provide a significant improvement in life expectancy almost 10 years ago, but no other agent has surpassed its benefits,” said Jordi Bruix, MD, head of the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer group at the Hospital Clínic in Spain and Scientific Director of the Network for Biomedical Research for Hepatic and Digestive Diseases (CIBEREHD), and principal investigator for the study.
“This is a very difficult to treat cancer but now we have an effective second-line agent, which is good news for the patients and also for the field as interest in further developments will be stimulated,” Bruix said.
After a median of 3.6 months of treatment, patients receiving regorafenib showed a 38% reduction in the risk of death and a 54% reduction in the risk of progression or death compared to placebo.