There is no specific treatment for sorafenib overdose. The highest dose of sorafenib studied clinically is 800 mg twice daily. The adverse events observed at this dose were primarily diarrhoea and dermatological events. In the event of suspected overdose sorafenib should be withheld and supportive care instituted where necessary.

Pharmacotherapeutic group: Antineoplastic agents, protein kinase inhibitors, ATC code: L01XE05

Sorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor which has demonstrated both anti-proliferative and anti-angiogenic properties in vitro and in vivo.

Mechanism of action and pharmacodynamic effects

Sorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor that decreases tumour cell proliferation in vitro. Sorafenib inhibits tumour growth of a broad spectrum of human tumour xenografts in athymic mice accompanied by a reduction of tumour angiogenesis. Sorafenib inhibits the activity of targets present in the tumour cell (CRAF, BRAF, V600E BRAF, c-KIT, and FLT-3) and in the tumour vasculature (CRAF, VEGFR-2, VEGFR-3, and PDGFR-ß). RAF kinases are serine/threonine kinases, whereas c-KIT, FLT-3, VEGFR-2, VEGFR-3, and PDGFR-ß are receptor tyrosine kinases.

Clinical efficacy

The clinical safety and efficacy of sorafenib have been studied in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC).

Hepatocellular carcinoma

Study 3 (study 100554) was a Phase III, international, multi-centre, randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled study in 602 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Demographics and baseline disease characteristics were comparable between the sorafenib and the placebo group with regard to ECOG status (status 0: 54 % vs. 54 %; status 1: 38 % vs. 39 %; status 2: 8 % vs. 7 %), TNM stage (stage I: <1 % vs. <1 %; stage II: 10.4 % vs. 8.3 %; stage III: 37.8 % vs. 43