Liver and Bile
Dig Liver Dis. 2023;55(7):938–44
Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma after treatment failure with multikinase inhibitors
Background and aims: Data on the effectiveness of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (atezo-bev) after failure of multikinase inhibitor (MKI) therapy in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma are scarce.
Methods: This retrospective multicenter study included all consecutive patients treated with atezo-bev after failing 1 or more MKI treatments in the setting of an early access program. The primary end point was the objective response rate (ORR) by investigator assessment (using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v1.1). Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method.
Results: 50 patients were included in this analysis. Atezo-bev was started between April 2020 and November 2021 (median follow-up, 18.21 months). The investigator-assessed ORR was 14% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.37–22.63%), with 7 patients displaying a tumor response, and the disease control rate was 56% (95% CI: 51.21–60.8%). After starting atezo-bev, the median OS was 17.1 months (95% CI: 10.58–22.01), and the median PFS was 7.99 months (95% CI: 4.78–10.50). Treatment-related adverse events led to treatment discontinuation in 7 patients.
Conclusions: Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab every 3 weeks showed clinical benefit for a proportion of patients previously treated with 1 or multiple lines of multikinase inhibitors.