Sirtex

LONDON, July 27, 2011 - New Guidance Could End Postcode Lottery on Innovative Cancer Treatment The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)has announced that it has produced guidance to support the routine use of SIRT (Selective Internal Radiation Therapy) for the treatment of patients with liver tumours resulting from colorectal cancer. This welcome decision culminatesan extensive dialoguebetween patients, patient groups, clinical experts and parliamentarians.

ROME, August 19, 2010 - Radioactive yttrium-90 labelled resin microspheres (SIR-Spheres; Sirtex Medical, Sydney, Australia) appear to be a safe and effective treatment for patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases who have failed available chemotherapy options, according to the final results of a prospective clinical multi-centre phase II trial conducted by the Italian Society of Locoregional Therapies in Oncology (SITILO) and published in the British Journal of Cancer.[1] The results of the 52-patient study revealed that the liver tumours completely disappeared in one patient (2%), and 11 (22%) patients had a partial response involving at least a 30% reduction in tumour size, which met the pre-determined criteria for significance (P = 0.05).

BRUSSELS, August 19, 2010 - Using the innovative technique of radioembolisation to treat patients with inoperable colorectal cancer liver metastases who have failed all standard-of-care chemotherapy options can more than double the time until their disease progresses, according to the final results of a Phase III randomised controlled trial published in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Oncology.(1) The prospective, randomised trial compared a protracted infusion of 5-fluorouracil (5FU) chemotherapy to the same chemotherapy in combination with radioembolisation, also known as selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT), using 90Y-resin microspheres (SIR-Spheres; Sirtex Medical, Sydney, Australia).