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"The global incidence of liver cancer continues to increase and has more than tripled in the United States over the last three decades, and currently there are no proven or approved systemic second-line treatment options for patients with advanced HCC," said Dr. Jordi Bruix, BCLC Group, Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS, CIBEREHD, Spain. "The improvement in overall survival seen with regorafenib in the RESORCE study signals the addition of a potential option in this treatment setting."
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In addition to the primary endpoint of the study, all secondary endpoints, which were assessed by modified Response Evaluation Critieria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST) and RECIST 1.1 criteria, were also met. Median progression-free survival was 3.1 months in patients taking regorafenib vs 1.5 months in the control group (HR 0.46; 95% CI 0.37‒0.56; p <0.001). Median time to progression was 3.2 vs 1.5 months (HR 0.44; 95% CI 0.36–0.55; p<0.001). Disease control rate (composed of complete or partial response and stable disease) was 65.2% vs 36.1%, respectively (p<0.001). Overall response rates (complete and partial response) were 10.6% vs 4.1% (p=0.005), respectively.
In the study, safety and tolerability were generally consistent with the known profile of regorafenib. The most common grade ≥3 treatment-emergent adverse events occurring more frequently in the regorafenib group (regorafenib vs placebo group) were hypertension (15.2% vs 4.7%), hand-foot skin reaction (12.6% vs 0.5%), fatigue (9.1% vs 4.7%), and diarrhea (3.2% vs 0%).
Bayer plans to submit data from the RESORCE study as the basis for marketing authorization of regorafenib in the treatment of unresectable HCC in the U.S. and other markets worldwide in 2016.
"Bayer has a deep heritage in the exploration of therapeutic options for HCC, since the introduction of sorafenib for unresectable HCC in 2007," said Mark Rutstein, vice president of Oncology Clinical Development at Bayer. "We are committed to exploring the use of kinase inhibitors across difficult-to-treat cancers, so that we can better understand the full clinical utility of these therapies."