Systemic therapies for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are limited, with only sorafenib approved as a first-line agent. Lenvatinib, an inhibitor of VEGFR1–3, PDFGRα, FGFR1–4, RET and KIT, had previously shown activity against HCC in a phase II trial. In an open-label, phase III, multicentre non-inferiority trial in patients with unresectable, untreated HCC (n = 954), Kudo et al. found that there was no difference in overall survival (OS) between those given sorafenib (median OS 12.3 months, 95% CI 10.4–13.9) or lenvatinib (median OS 13.6 months, 95% CI 12.1–14.9). Lenvatinib was also associated with longer median progression-free survival and median time-to-progression than sorafenib.
References
Kudo, M. et al. Lenvatinib versus sorafenib in first-line treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: a randomised phase 3 non-inferiority trial. Lancet https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30207-1 (2018)
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Thomas, H. Lenvatinib non-inferior to sorafenib for hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 15, 190 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2018.20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2018.20