Study finds Nexavar can be repurposed beyond known uses

In an article published today by SAGE Publishing, investigators from The Nagourney Cancer Institute and The Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, announced a new approach to identifying effective treatments for patients with advanced metastatic cancers.

A drug commonly used to treat kidney and liver cancer was discovered effective for breast cancer, which may open new drug therapies to patients regardless of tumor type. The full article can be found at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2050313X19838739

The study reports the use of 3-dimensional-human-tumor derived organoids that were isolated directly from a patient’s drug resistant breast cancer. The drug identified, sorafenib, marketed by Germany’s Bayer (BAYN: DE) as Nexavar, is widely used for the treatment of kidney and liver cancers but has not been found active, used, nor approved for patients with breast cancer.