SAN FRANCISCO ― A novel dual immunotherapy regimen significantly improved overall survival compared to a standard of care in patients with advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the large phase 3 HIMALAYA trial.
The novel regimen, dubbed STRIDE (Single T Regular Interval D), comprised a single priming dose of the investigational agent tremelimumab followed by regular doses of durvalumab (Imfinzi).
Patients on this regimen experienced a 22% lower risk of death than patients treated with sorafenib (Nexavar), which at the time the trial began was the only approved frontline standard of care for patients with advanced HCC.
At 3 years, almost 31% of patients treated with combination therapy were still alive, vs 24.7% for durvalumab alone and 20.2% for sorafenib.
This novel regimen "may represent new treatment options for patients with untreated hepatocellular carcinoma," said lead author Ghassan Abou-Alfa, MD, MBA, an attending physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York. "Pending FDA approval, this novel dual immunotherapy regimen could be readily available to all patients and would not require additional safety assessments prior to treatment."
He presented the new results here at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (GICS) 2022.
Discussing the abstract, Anthony B. El-Khoueiry, MD, from the University of Southern California, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, agreed that the STRIDE regimen, with the combination of one priming dose of tremelimumab and regular interval durvalumab, is a new first-line treatment option for advanced HCC patients.
