Contrast developer Guerbet has received regulatory approval in China for its Lipiodol Ultra-Fluid contrast agent for transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at intermediate stage in adult patients.
With the move, China's National Medical Products Administration gives Guerbet an additional indication for Lipiodol Ultra-Fluid in the field of interventional oncology. Lipiodol Ultra-Fluid is indicated for conventional TACE, a minimally invasive procedure that involves mixing the agent with an anticancer drug and injecting it transarterially in the liver as a targeted chemotherapy treatment for unresectable HCC tumors.
The company notes that HCC is the most common primary liver cancer and the fourth leading cause of death due to cancer worldwide, with China representing over 50% of all primary liver cancers globally, as the country has the highest prevalence of liver cancer worldwide.
Guerbet notes that Lipiodol Ultra-Fluid can act as a contrast agent, a drug vehicle, or a dual arterio-portal transient embolic.