Positive data from study of SIR-Spheres Microspheres in colorectal cancer-Sirtex

Adding SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres, from Sirtex, to first-line chemotherapy for patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer in the liver (mCRC) further extends Progression-Free Survival in that organ. Patients with mCRC that has spread only to the liver experienced the greatest improvement in Progression-Free Survival (PFS) from the addition of SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres to a current first-line chemotherapy regimen.

Among the 318 patients with metastases that had spread only to the liver at the time they entered the study, median PFS in the liver was 21.1 months for those treated with SIR-Spheres plus chemotherapy, compared to 12.4 months for those treated with chemotherapy alone. This 8.7 month improvement was statistically significant (p-value = 0.003, with a hazard ratio of 0.64) and represents a notable 36 percent reduction in the risk of tumour progression in the liver. This was accompanied by an acceptable level of adverse events. The data from the SIRFLOX study was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 17th World Congress of Gastrointestinal Cancer (WCGIC).