Combination Atezolizumab Plus Bevacizumab Improved Quality of Life in HCC

Peter R. Galle, MD, the director of the Medical Department at the University Medical Center Mainz and president-elect of the German Association for the Study of the Liver, discusses the findings that came from the phase III IMbrave 150 clinical trial, which evaluated the combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) versus the standard of care, sorafenib (Nexavar), as frontline treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Patients were analyzed at each cycle and compared to baseline, Galle says. These findings showed that a lower proportion of patients with unresectable HCC had deterioration of quality of life (QoL) with the combination atezolizumab plus bevacizumab compared with sorafenib. Overall, the combination regimen was better tolerated than the standard of care, and the QoL in patients was better with the combination as well.

Time to deterioration of QoL was 11.2 months in the combination arm versus 3.6 with sorafenib. The combination of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab also led to an extended median time to several symptoms, such as loss of appetite, fatigue, pain, jaundice, and diarrhea, compared with sorafenib.

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