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CHICAGO - For the first time, doctors say they have found a pill that improves survival in liver cancer, a notoriously hard to treat disease diagnosed in more than half a million people globally each year.
The results in a multinational study of 602 patients with advanced liver cancer are impressive and likely will change the way patients are treated, cancer specialists including the study authors say.
Patients got either two tablets daily of a drug called sorafenib or dummy pills in the study, which started in March 2005. Some patients are still alive, although on average, sorafenib patients survived 10.7 months versus almost 8 months for those on dummy pills. That's a difference of 44 percent, or about three months....

The original article can found in the Media Doctor archives.

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what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

This is a relatively complete report of a new drug to treat liver cancer that has one major and a few minor faults. On the major front, we don't learn a single thing about any adverse effects or harms related to the treatment, so have no way to assess if the extra two months worth of life given to liver cancer patients are quality months. On the minor front, the reader doesn't learn from the article if the treatment is available in Canada (one of the faults of using the wire service is that the information doesn't get 'Canadianized) and we don't learn what the cost would be.

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