Brain tumor
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive (grade IV) and most common form of a malignant brain tumor. Even when aggressive multimodality therapy consisting of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgical excision is used, median survival is only 12–17 months. Standard therapy for glioblastoma multiforme consists of maximal surgical resection of the tumor, followed by radiotherapy between two and four weeks after the surgical procedure to remove the cancer, then by chemotherapy, such as temozolomide. Most patients with glioblastoma take a corticosteroid, typically dexamethasone, during their illness to relieve symptoms. Experimental treatments include targeted therapy, gamma knife radiosurgery, boron neutron capture therapy and gene therapy.
Brivanib alaninate
As a result of poor liver function, metastases, or both, only 10% to 20% of patients undergo surgery. In patients having surgery, the 5-year survival rate is only 25% to 50%. Several chemotherapeutic agents have been evaluated for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Doxorubicin (trade name Adriamycin; also known as hydroxydaunorubicin), the most widely used agent in HCC, has shown a 4% to 10.5% response rate in patients with HCC. Studies have shown that the overall response (OR) rate, but not overall survival (OS), doubles when doxorubicin was given in combination with cisplatin, IFN, and 5-fluorouracil. The multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor sorafenib (trade name Nexavar), which inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), platelet-derived growth factor receptor, raf, c-kit, and flt-3, has been shown to inhibit HCC-induced proliferation and angiogenesis. Sorafenib has also been shown to provide a significant improvement in OS in patients with HCC. Based on these results, researchers concluded that this class of agents may be effective in the treatment of HCC.