Sorafenib, a drug used to treat cancers of the kidney and liver, can also be effective in treating thyroid cancer, a new study has said.
Sorafenib belongs to a class of drugs called the "kinase inhibitors" and works by slowing the progression of the cancer.
Thyroid cancer is a cancer that forms in the thyroid gland. And although the cancer is highly treatable via surgery and medication, many people (about 10 percent of the cancer patients) don't respond to the standard therapy and have serious complications, such as the cancer spreading to other parts of the body.
Researchers associated with the current study say that sorafenib can help people who don't respond to standard therapy for the cancer.
"Until we began using sorafenib, we had no medical options for these patients who suffered due to progression of their disease. Now, we can give patients hope - a breakthrough medication that can stop the progression of the disease for 5 months. This trial is the first step in a promising series of clinical trials to identify new drugs that are shifting the horizon for patients with advanced thyroid cancer," said Marcia S. Brose, M.D., an assistant professor of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery and Hematology/Oncology, lead author of the study.
The study included more than 400 patients with a severe case of thyroid cancer. In this group, 207 patients were asked to take sorafenib, while 210 patients got a placebo.
Study results showed that 12 percent of patients who took the test drug had a reduction in tumor size, compared with 0.5 percent of the placebo group. Also, the drug was effective in controlling the cancer in cases where there was no shrinkage in the size; 42 patients in the sorafenib group had stable disease compared with 33 percent of the patients in the placebo group.
Sorafenib is marketed as Nexavar by Bayer and is used to treat kidney cancer. The drug was given a "fast-track" approval by the Food and Drug Administration and has been doing well in various Phase III trials.
Common side-effects of taking the drug included hand-foot skin reaction, diarrhea, alopecia, rash, fatigue, weight loss and hypertension. These side-effects are consistent with earlier tests on the drug.
The study was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting.