Purpose: Alhough antiangiogenic agents are the bedrock of treatment for radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid carcinoma (RAIR-DTC), novel antiangiogenic agents with optimized features like greater target-binding affinities and more favorable pharmacokinetics profile are needed. This phase II randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial investigated the efficacy and safety of anlotinib, a multikinase inhibitor, for RAIR-DTC. Patients and Methods: Patients (ages between 18 and 70 years) with pathologically confirmed locally advanced or metastatic RAIR-DTC were enrolled and randomly received 12 mg anlotinib once daily or placebo on day 1 to 14 every 3 weeks. Patients on placebo were allowed to receive open-label anlotinib after disease progression. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). The secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS) and safety. Results: Between September 2015 and August 2018, 76 and 37 patients randomly received anlotinib and placebo, respectively. Patients receiving anlotinib had a significantly longer median PFS [40.5 months, 95% confidence interval (CI), 28.3–not estimable (NE) versus placebo 8.4 months, 95% CI, 5.6–13.8; HR = 0.21, 95% CI, 0.12–0.37, P < 0.001], meeting the primary endpoint. OS was still immature, with a trend of benefit with anlotinib (HR = 0.57, 95% CI, 0.29–1.12). All patients in the anlotinib group experienced adverse events (AE); 8 (10.5%) discontinued treatment due to AEs. Conclusions: Anlotinib demonstrated promising efficacy and favorable tolerance in the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic RAIR-DTC, supporting further research to establish its role in the treatment of this serious disease.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to bridge the gap in the literature on supply chain finance (SCF) by exploring the relationship between network capabilities and corporate financial performance (CFP) in financial supply chains (FSCs).Design/methodology/approach: The authors collect panel data and adopt regression analysis to analyse the joint investment activities among 1359 manufacturing firms and 289 financial service providers in China to explore how network capabilities, both network power and network centrality, improve CFP in the FSCs.Findings: Under the FSCs environments, network centrality (i.e. eigenvector centrality, closeness centrality and betweenness centrality) raises CFP (ROA, ROE and Tobin's Q) and network power (node degree, clustering coefficient) also improves CFP. However, node strength from the network power stream has a negative effect on Tobin's Q, indicating that when the partner of a firm has an extremely strong influence in FSCs; this weakens the bargaining ability and flexibility of the focal firm, thus reducing its long-term financial performance.Practical implications: The joint investment activities among supply chain partners and financial service providers help managers understand the advanced financing solutions generated by internal and external network organisations as well as be aware of network capabilities' impact on CFP in FSCs.Originality/value: This study answers the call for more empirical research on SCF to provide a broader sample to examine financial supply chain management. This is one of the earliest studies to shed light on a new perspective – how network capabilities improve CFP in the FSCs.