The United States Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Nexavar (sorafenib tosylate) for the treatment of advanced kidney cancer developed by Onyx and marketed by Bayer. The drug targets proteins that control tumor development and blood vessel formation. In a randomized clinical trial of more than 900 patients, it appreciably slowed tumor growth. It took an average of about 24 weeks for tumors to start growing again in patients given Nexavar, compared to about 12 weeks in people given a dummy pill (placebo). The patients in the study all had renal cell carcinoma, which had spread, and most had already been treated with interleukin-2 or interferon.

Cost Nexavar

It is not yet known if Nexavar actually helps people with advanced kidney cancer live longer. Longer follow-up of the patients in the study will be required to answer that question. The drug is being tested in people with advanced liver cancer and people with metastatic melanoma.

Nexavar Treatment

Nexavar is the first compound to target both the RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway to slow down cell proliferation and the VEGFR-2/PDGFR-? signaling cascade to inhibit tumor angiogenesis. Recently, researchers found that a specific RAF kinase, BRAF, is mutated in two-thirds of melanomas and a very low percentage of colorectal and other solid tumors.

Advanced kidney cancer is very hard to treat. Traditional chemotherapy and radiation are not very efficient against this disease. Interleukin-2 and interferon can shrink the tumors, but only 10%-20% of patients respond to these drugs and they can have stern side effects. More than 36,000 cases of kidney cancer and some 12,660 deaths are expected in the United States.