Novartis drug shows no survival benefit in liver cancer

ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis said on Wednesday its drug Afinitor did not show a survival benefit in patients with advanced liver cancer. Data from a late-stage trial found that Afinitor did not extend overall survival compared with placebo in patients with locally advanced or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer. The study was examining the efficacy and safety of Afinitor, which is also known as everolimus, in patients whose disease had progressed after treatment with or were intolerant to Onyx and Bayer’s drug Nexavar. …