Sorafenib in Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck or Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
11/9/2006 Prague, Czech Republic Chris Berrie Doctor's Guide (www.docguide.com) The broad-spectrum antitumour agent sorafenib has modest efficacy in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) or nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), according to a single-arm, phase 2 trial. However, the drug is well tolerated and easy to deliver, and provides an attractive option for combination treatment in these patients, the researcher said in a presentation here on November 8th at the 18th European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer - National Cancer Institute - American Association for Cancer Research (AACR-NCI-EORTC) 18th Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. "For patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and NPC there is no very effective first-line therapy, and although there can be some response for nasopharyngeal cancer, survival is still around a year, and for both of these diseases there is no standard second-line therapy," said investigator Christine Elser, MD, clinical fellow, medical oncology, Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Sorafenib has previously demonstrated broad-spectrum, antitumour activity through its actions as a multikinase inhibitor that targets the pathways for epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor-Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor signalling. Dr. Elser and colleagues therefore conducted their study to determine the efficacy of sorafenib as a single agent in patients with recurrent or metastatic SCCHN or NPC. The study's secondary objectives were to assess the rate of stable disease, time to disease progression, median survival duration, safety and [...]