NICE approves using SIR-Spheres as alternative HCC treatment

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence released a Medtech Innovation Briefing stating SIR-Spheres ytrrium-90 resin microspheres may be used as an alternative to standard therapy for the treatment of patients with inoperable primary hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a press release from the manufacturer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) briefing allows national health service doctors and commissioners to consider SIR-Spheres ytrrium-90 resin microspheres (Y-90 resin microspheres, Sirtex) as an alternative to standard therapy with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) or Nexavar (sorafenib, Bayer, Germany) and is indicative of clinical research that has suggested the microspheres are as effective as these other treatments.

Daniel Palmer

“This NICE [Medtech Innovation Briefing] is welcomed, as it opens the door for UK HCC patients to have access to SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres as a well-tolerated alternative to other standard therapies,” Daniel Palmer, chair of medical oncology and head of the academic oncology unit at University of Liverpool and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, U.K., said in the release. “Whilst exciting further research with this technology is already well along the way to completion, the new NICE [Medtech Innovation Briefing] advice may be particularly important now for our patients who cannot tolerate TACE or sorafenib, or are ineligible for these treatments.”

The medical briefing stated that most patients treated with Y-90 resin microspheres require only a single treatment, compared with multiple treatments with TACE, or sorafenib — which must be taken daily — and may be an easier form of treatment for HCC, according to the release. Patients also may better tolerate the spheres vs. TACE, with fewer incidences of post-embolization syndrome and shorter in-patient hospital stays.

“For many years, patients with inoperable HCC have had access to only two effective therapy options,” Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said in the release. “Now, with the publication of the NICE [Medtech Innovation Briefing], [national health service] patients will have a further option in the form of SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres. This form of local radiotherapy is well-tolerated and convenient for the patient.”

According to the Sirtex website, Y-90 resin microspheres are tiny radioactive ‘beads’ used in selective internal radiation therapy for the treatment of stage IV colon cancer that has spread to the liver and cannot be surgically removed. It is currently the only FDA-approved microsphere radiation therapy in the U.S. for the treatment of colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver. They are currently approved for treating inoperable liver tumors in Australia, the European Union, Argentina, Brazil and several countries in Asia, such as India and Singapore, according to a previous press release. – by Melinda Stevens

Disclosure: Healio.com/Hepatology was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.