Study shows that SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres showed reduced side effects in liver cancer- Sirtex

A major head-to-head study has shown that SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres, from Sirtex, administered once directly to the liver offers important treatment benefits compared to twice-daily oral doses of sorafenib, the current standard of care for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer or HCC). Asian patients with locally advanced HCC who were treated with Y-90 resin microspheres had a significantly better tumour response rate of 16.5% compared to 1.7% for sorafenib in the intent to treat, or ITT analysis, and 23.1% for SIRT compared to 1.9% in the treated population, which represents the patients who actually received their allocated treatment.

They also experienced almost a two-fold decrease in severe adverse events compared with those treated with sorafenib. The primary endpoint of the study, overall survival (OS) was not met. Median survival in the Y-90 resin microspheres study arm was 8.84 versus 10.02 months for the sorafenib group. This difference is not statistically significant. Results of the 360-patient SIRveNIB study were presented at ASCO.