New drug could help extend lives of liver cancer patients

By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

A new drug that could extend the lives of liver cancer patients has been developed by scientists.

In clinical trials, it shrank tumors by up to a third.

The medication, known as NMS-01940153E, works by blocking a protein that fuels cell division.

Project leader Dr. Maria Reig, of Barcelona University, Spain, said: "Primary liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer and among the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide.

"Although new treatment options are becoming available, the overall prognosis for advanced liver cancer remains poor. I wanted to find new treatments for this cancer."

It was given intravenously to 12 patients at increasing doses. Preliminary results were described as "encouraging."

Dr. Reig said: "Preclinical work demonstrated NMS-01940153E was highly effective in preventing the proliferation of cancer cells, both on its own and in combination with other anti-cancer drugs.

"It seems more potent than other kinase inhibitors in liver cancer cells and so we are testing it, as a single agent, in a phase I clinical trial in liver cancer patients."

Participants had all had previous treatments with up to three other anti-cancer drugs that eventually failed to halt cancer.

Cancer shrank by at least 30 percent in two - for two and a half and more than nine months. It was discontinued after their cancer started to grow again.

The cancer remained stable, neither shrinking nor growing, in two further patients. They are still receiving the monthly treatment after 11 and 18 cycles.

Dr. Reig said: "At the smaller dose, one of six patients who could be evaluated had a partial response to the study drug. At the larger dose, one of five had a partial response.

"Since each patient had three prior failures with standard treatments, the responses to NMS-01940153E are a strong sign that this new mechanism might be valuable in liver cancer, especially for patients whose cancer has already failed to respond to standard options."

More than 900,000 cases of liver cancer are diagnosed each year worldwide. Only 13 percent of patients survive for five years.

Rising obesity levels mean we will see incidence increase. Many patients are diagnosed at a late stage. Better treatments are urgently required.

Dr. Reig said: "Reduced white blood cell counts were the main adverse side effect but it was always quickly reversible and mostly managed carefully with observation and dose reductions by the treating physicians."

Other side effects included abnormally-colored urine, low platelet counts, anemia, weakness, diarrhea and reaction at the site of injection. There was no drug-related death.

The medication is currently being evaluated in a phase II clinical trial in liver cancer patients that cannot be treated with surgery.

Dr. Reig added: "NMS-01940153E represents a new type of treatment, working in a very different way from the current options for treating liver cancer; therefore, it offers potential to help patients in the future.

"This is a small study, so the results will need to be shown in larger studies. The strength of the study is that the effect of NMS-01940153E appears to be realistic, due to the history of prior treatment failures of these patients and the early pattern of response we observed.

"Therefore, these results suggest NMS-01940153E should continue to be studied in liver cancer and this is happening in the phase II trial, which started in August 2022 and is expected to continue to 2024 at centers in Spain and Italy."

The findings were presented at an international symposium organized by EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer), NCI (National Cancer Institute) and AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) in Barcelona.

Chair Professor Ruth Plummer, from Newcastle University, who was not involved with the research, said: "Drugs to prevent cancer cells dividing and proliferating have not shown many benefits in the clinic for patients with liver cancer so far.

"Liver cancer is one of the most fatal diseases; the percentage of people with advanced disease who are still alive five years after diagnosis is measured in months rather than years.

"Therefore, new and more effective treatments are needed urgently. The results from this small study are encouraging and the phase II trial should give us more information about the safety and efficacy of NMS-01940153E."