Bayer's Nexavar continues to dominate advanced liver cancer therapy, as other late-stage trials fail

Sufferers of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer, have a poor diagnosis rate, due to the disease’s symptoms tending to only emerge in the advanced stages of the disease, according to a new report by health care experts GBI Research. Disease awareness is also low due to a lack of public and professional understanding, with no mandatory screening guidelines even existing for HCC diagnosis.

HCC treatment depends on tumor size and location, and patient health, but around 75% of HCC patients are declared ineligible for curative surgical treatment due to poor liver function or advanced disease, and so alternate treatment options such as chemotherapy, ablation, and radiation therapy are vital.

German drug major Bayer’s (BAYN: DE) Nexavar (sorafenib) is the only therapy currently approved to treat HCC in Europe and the USA, and represents a new class of drugs that aim to improve upon standard chemotherapy drugs by specifically targeting cancer cells or their surrounding environment, while leaving normal cells unaffected, causing less damage to the patient. Nexavar works by hindering new blood vessel growth, thereby slowing tumor growth. Prior to Nexavar’s approval, various off-label chemotherapeutic agents were used as therapeutics, despite low effectiveness, the GBI report notes.