The FINANCIAL — Bayer announced on December 13 that the Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) approved Stivarga (regorafenib) tablets for the second-line treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have been previously treated with Nexavar (sorafenib).
The data from the pivotal Phase III RESORCE study showed that Stivarga (regorafenib) provided a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival (OS) versus placebo; the median OS was 10.6 vs 7.8 months, (HR 0.62, 95% CI 0.50-0.78; p<0.0001). Exploratory analyses of the RESORCE trial showed that the median time from the start of prior sorafenib treatment to death was 26 months in patients receiving regorafenib versus 19.2 months in those receiving placebo. Regorafenib is the first drug approved for the second-line treatment of patients with HCC in China. The CFDA approval expands Bayer’s leadership in liver cancer with a treatment plan in HCC involving use of Stivarga directly after progression on Nexavar, according to Bayer.
“Following the approval of Stivarga for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors earlier this year in China, the approval in HCC brings new hope to Chinese patients with HCC who previously had no effective treatment options after being treated with Nexavar”, said Robert LaCaze, Member of the Executive Committee of Bayer AG’s Pharmaceuticals Division and Head of the Oncology Strategic Business Unit. “The product is already approved for the treatment of HCC in many countries around the world, including US, Japan and in the EU, and this milestone expands Bayer’s global leadership in liver cancer.”
Liver cancer is often more difficult to treat than other cancers with 466,000 new cases diagnosed and 422,000 deaths in China per year. Globally, it is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths.
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