Sirtex Medical (“Sirtex”), a leading manufacturer of targeted liver cancer therapies, announced today that the first procedure of selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) using SIR-Spheres® Y-90 resin microspheres in China was successfully performed for a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on Sept. 28, 2021. The milestone was reached with the support of Sirtex shareholder China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Limited.
“This achievement marks a major step forward in our global growth as a company and in our mission to bring effective treatments to patients with cancer,” said Kevin R. Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Sirtex. “We are especially excited to advance our efforts in China, given the sizable numbers of colorectal and liver cancer cases in recent years. We thank everyone involved in this accomplishment and look forward to the promising future of SIR-Spheres in China and around the world.”
The procedure was performed by Dr. Jiahong Dong and his team at Boao Super Hospital in the Hainan Province. Dr. Jiahong is a world-renowned specialist in hepatobiliary pancreatic surgery and liver transplantation and was elected Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2017.
There are 400,000 new cases of liver cancer in China each year, accounting for more than half of all new cases of liver cancer worldwide. “The successful implementation of the first licensed access to the resin microsphere in the clinical treatment of liver cancer means that China’s liver cancer patients can receive international advanced selective in vivo radiation therapy,” said Dr. Jiahong Dong in a press conference held yesterday. “This is a landmark and milestone in the history.”
Hainan’s first try, first pilot policy allows global new technologies, new ideas and new products to be implemented through Hainan Hope City. The project of the introduction of SIR-Spheres® Y-90 resin microspheres will benefit Chinese patients in China.
In November 2020, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of the People’s Republic of China accepted the Sirtex new drug application (NDA) of SIR-Spheres® Y-90 resin microspheres for the treatment of colorectal cancer liver metastases.