Sorafenib’s approval has been expanded to include late-stage differentiated thyroid cancer, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Nov. 22.
The kinase inhibitor was approved for the treatment of "locally recurrent or metastatic, progressive, differentiated thyroid carcinoma refractory to radioactive iodine treatment," according to the prescribing information.
The expedited approval –completed in 6 months – was based on a study of 417 people with locally recurrent or metastatic, progressive differentiated thyroid cancer that had not responded to radioactive iodine treatment. Subjects were randomized to 400 mg of sorafenib twice a day or placebo. The median progression-free survival was 10.8 months among those on sorafenib and 5.8 months among those on placebo, a statistically significant 41% difference.
Diarrhea, fatigue, infection, alopecia, hand-foot skin reaction, rash, weight loss, decreased appetite, nausea, gastrointestinal and abdominal pains, and hypertension were among the most common adverse effects associated with treatment, according to the FDA. In addition, thyroid stimulating hormone, which can promote thyroid cancer, "is more likely to become elevated while on treatment with Nexavar, requiring adjustment of thyroid hormone replacement therapy," the statement said.
Sorafenib, marketed as Nexavar by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals was approved for treating advanced renal cell carcinoma in 2005 and for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma in 2007.