Targeted therapy for liver cancer

As researchers have learned more about the changes in cells that cause cancer, they have been able develop newer drugs that are aimed at these changes. Targeted drugs do not work the same as standard chemo drugs (which are described in the next section, “Chemotherapy”). They tend to focus on killing the cancer cells and cause less damage to normal tissues. And they often have different, and less severe, side effects.

Like chemo, these drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body. This makes them useful against cancers that have spread to distant organs. Because chemo has not worked well in most patients with liver cancer, doctors have begun testing and using targeted therapies.

Sorafenib (Nexavar^®) has been shown to slow the growth of advanced liver cancer and to help some patients with advanced liver cancer live longer. Doctors are also looking at its use earlier in the course of the disease, often along with other types of treatment.