211. Back to Basics - Hepatocellular Carcinoma

For over a decade, sorafenib remained unchallenged as first-line therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma, based on the SHARP trial, which showed survival increasing from 7.9 to 10.7 months. This demonstrated modest efficacy in a disease notoriously resistant to systemic treatment. That drought broke in 2020, when IMbrave150 demonstrated that atezolizumab plus bevacizumab beat sorafenib outright, pushing median survival past 19 months and putting immunotherapy on the map for liver cancer. Two years later, HIMALAYA proved that a single priming dose of anti-CTLA-4 could unlock durable responses, with the STRIDE regimen nearly doubling five-year survival compared with sorafenib. Then IMbrave050 asked whether that success could move earlier, into the adjuvant setting after resection — and the early promise didn’t hold up on longer follow-up. Together, these three trials mark both immunotherapy’s arrival in liver cancer and the limits of assuming it translates cleanly across settings. **Trials Discussed on Today's Episode:** HIMALAYA Trial IMbrave 050 IMbrave 150 For more episodes, resources and blog posts, visit www.inquisitiveonc.com Please find us on Twitter @InquisitiveOnc! If you want us to look at a specific trial or subject, email us at [inquisitiveonc@gmail.com](mailto:inquisitiveonc@gmail.com) Art courtesy of Taryn Silver Music courtesy of AlisiaBeats: https://pixabay.com/users/alisiabeats-39461785/ Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. If you are unwell, seek medical advice. Oncology for the Inquisitive Mind is recorded with the support of education grants from our foundation partners Pfizer and Merck Pharmaceuticals. Our partners have access to the episode at the same time you do and have no editorial control over the content. * * * Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.