A trial designed and co-led by Dr. Jordi Bruix, head of the Hepatology Service of Hospital Clnic- IDIBAPS (Barcelona) and Dr. Josep Maria Llovet, ICREA researcher of the Hepatic Oncology Group, are planning a new treatment which increases the overall survival of patients suffering from advanced liver cancer. The results of this study, called SHARP (Sorafenib HCC hepatocellular carcinoma Assessment Randomized Protocol) allow overall survival (OS) and time to symptom progression (TTSP) comparison between patients who were administered Sorafenib orally, (developed by BAYER) and another group of patients, treated with placebo. The results presented by Clnic-IDIBAPS investigators have been hand selected to be included on the Best of ASCO program. This is an educational initiative that condenses highlights from ASCOs Annual Meeting into a 1 day program.
Results are consistent and significant. Overall survival of patients treated with Sorafenib was in average 10.7 months compared to 7.9 months within the group administered placebo. Thus, this treatment increases overall survival by more than 40% if compared to the placebo group. Furthermore, no differences were observed in the severe side effects rate between the treatments two modalities. Obtained data imply an unprecedented therapeutic progress in the treatment of advanced liver cancer and involve a shift in this diseases paradigm. This treatment gives new hope for patients who, until now, could neither beneficiate from curative effects of therapies nor hope for survival improvement. From a scientific point of view, this drug, which delays tumor progression and improves survival, will be the base for future further research.
The SHARP study, an international phase III trial, lead by Hospital Clnic in collaboration with Mount Sinai, where Dr. Llovet is head of the Hepatic Cancer Research Program, started 5 years ago and included a total of 602 patients from 110 centers from the
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Contact: lex Argem
aargemi@clinic.ub.es
34-932-275-700
IDIBAPS - Institut d'Investigacions Biomdiques August Pi i Sunyer
4-Jun-2007