Nexavar Falls Short of Goal

Bayer AG, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Nexavar, announced that in clinical trials, the drug failed to reach its goal of extending the lives of patients with a certain type of advanced lung cancer.

Nexavar has already garnered approval in patients with late stage kidney and liver cancer.  And, in the most recent trial, the drug did reach its secondary goal of preventing late stage lung cancer from getting worse.

Nexavar works by stopping new blood vessels that feed cancer cells from being formed; in the clinical trial, the drug was used in tandem with chemotherapy and compared to a placebo.  The company asserts they will keep testing the drug in lung cancer patients, both in combination with other drugs, and on its own.   The drug is also being tested in patients with ovarian, colon, thyroid and breast cancer.

In other lung cancer news, scientists trying to determine why lung cancer has been increasing among women say that estrogen likely plays a role, especially in women who have never smoked but have gotten the disease, nonetheless.    According to the American Cancer Society, smoking is thought to be related to 87% of all lung cancer.