AstraZeneca’s liver cancer treatment shows ‘continued survival benefit’ in phase 3 trial

According to the study, the treatment demonstrated a sustained, clinically meaningful overall survival (OS) benefit at four years for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who had not received prior systemic therapy and were not eligible for localized treatment.

The updated results, which were presented at this year’s European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer, show that treatment plan reduced the risk of death by 22% at four years compared to sorafenib, a standard of care multi-kinase inhibitor.

An estimated 25.2% of patients treated with the STRIDE regimen were alive at four years versus 15.1% for those treated with sorafenib.

An exploratory analysis also showed that the effects of the regimen versus sorafenib were consistent across all clinically relevant subgroups of patients, as well as those surviving at least three years, regardless of the underlying disease cause.

Bruno Sangro, a lead investigator in the trial, said: “Historically, only seven percent of patients with advanced liver cancer have survived five years, making the HIMALAYA long-term survival data especially meaningful. One in four patients treated with the STRIDE regimen were still alive at four years, reinforcing this novel regimen as a standard of care in this setting.”

Susan Galbraith, executive vice president, oncology research and development, AstraZeneca, added: “The remarkable four-year survival benefit shown with IMFINZI and IMJUDO in this advanced liver cancer setting supports the use of the STRIDE regimen to treat a broad, eligible patient population globally. These latest results from HIMALAYA are part of a series of clinical trials aiming to deliver innovative treatments for patients at different stages of liver cancer.”

Imfinzi plus Imjudo is currently approved for certain adults with advanced or unresectable HCC in major markets, including in the US, EU and Japan.