According to a story from BioSpace, the biotechnology company Tiziana Life Sciences Plc has recently announced that participant enrollment in its Phase 2a clinical trial has finished. This clinical trial will test the safety and effectiveness of milciclib as a therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma that is sorafenib refractory or in patients that are intolerant. These patients have disease that cannot be resolved with surgery and has begun metastasis.
About Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma is a type of liver cancer. Although generally considered rare, at least in developed countries, it is the most common type of cancer to originate in the liver in adults and is also the most common cause of death for people who develop cirrhosis. Risk factors are generally any condition that can lead to long term liver damage and cirrhosis, such as certain genetic disorders, chronic hepatitis, type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and severe alcohol abuse. The cancer is associated with common symptoms of liver dysfunction and damage, such as jaundice, fatigue, abdominal swelling, nausea and vomiting, bruising easily, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, and weight loss. Treatment may include kinase inhibitors, surgery, liver transplant, arterial catheters, and ablation. Survival rates are poor; cancer that cannot be removed with surgery is usually lethal within a year. To learn more about hepatocellular carcinoma, click here.
About Milciclib and the Ongoing Trial
This ongoing clinical trial will be six months in total duration and will test repeated doses of milciclib in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Interim data so far has shown that there are no serious tolerability concerns. Milciclib, which is an inhibitor of multiple cyclin dependent kinases, has demonstrated clinical potential in the treatment of a number of solid tumor cancers in earlier trials.
There is an urgent need for new, more effective therapies that can improve survival and quality of life for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma; even treatments like sorafenib, which was approved for the treatment of advanced disease, has only a minor impact on patients’ overall survival. The response rate for the drug is also low. This trial of milciclib will reveal whether this experimental therapy can offer a better option for patients with this deadly cancer.
