A GROUNDBREAKING Chinese study has found that administering a combination of drugs before surgery can nearly double the time patients with a deadly form of liver cancer remain disease-free. The research, published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, offers new hope for treating intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), a “silent” cancer that forms in the bile ducts inside the liver and is often only detected at an advanced stage.

Led by Fudan University’s Zhongshan Hospital and involving 11 centers across China, the trial tested a neoadjuvant approach — treatment given before the main surgery to shrink tumors. Researchers recruited 178 patients (median age 59) by February 2025. One group received three cycles of Gemox chemotherapy combined with a targeted therapy drug and an immunotherapy agent, which helps the immune system attack cancer cells. The other group underwent immediate surgery, the current standard practice.

Results showed the drug cocktail significantly delayed cancer recurrence. Median event-free survival — time after treatment without complications or return of cancer — was 18 months for the drug group, compared to just 8.7 months for the surgery-only group.

Lead researcher Shi Guoming noted that tumors in the drug group shrank dramatically, with an objective response rate of 55% — meaning over half of patients saw their tumors partially or completely disappear during treatment.The 24-month survival rate also favored the drug protocol: 79% versus 61% for surgery alone.

China bears a disproportionate burden of ICC, with over 50,000 new cases annually — more than half the global total. Experts suggest the findings establish a new “standard of care” for a disease where postoperative five-year survival currently languishes between 25% and 40%.

The team first presented preliminary results at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Germany last October, where the research attracted significant international attention. The study, which began in 2021, represents a major advance against one of the most challenging gastrointestinal cancers.

(SD-Agencies)