Sirtex Medical With China Grand Pharmaceutical Introduce SIR-Spheres in China

October 11, 2021—Sirtex Medical announced that the first procedure of selective internal radiation therapy using the company’s SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres in China was successfully performed for a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma. The milestone was reached with the support of Sirtex shareholder China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Limited, noted the company.

The procedure was performed on September 28 by Jiahong Dong, MD, and his team at Boao Super Hospital in Boao Hope City, Qionghai in the Hainan Province of China. 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.

According to Sirtex, 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.

Dr. Jiahong Dong stated in a press conference on October 10, “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. This is a landmark and milestone in the history.”

Sirtex stated that Hainan’s first-try, first-pilot policy allows global new technologies, new ideas, and new products to be implemented through Hainan Hope City. In November 2020, the National Medical Products Administration of the People’s Republic of China accepted the Sirtex new drug application of SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres for the treatment of colorectal cancer liver metastases.