ILCA President Highlights Progress and Plans for the Future of HCC Treatment

Morris Sherman, MD

In the past 18 months, three drugs have been approved in the United States for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with additional targeted therapies and late-stage control point inhibitors. In addition, the oncology community is waiting for later phase data that will undoubtedly have an impact on treatment decisions, explained Morris Sherman, MD, PhD.

The emergence of these therapeutic developments and the excitement that surrounds them were discussed at the 12th Annual Conference of the International Association Against Liver Cancer (ILCA), which is held in London, UK.

In an interview with OncLiveSherman, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and president of ILCA, shared his insights on the news and discussions at this year's meeting, the rise of research in immunotherapy and targeted therapy , patients with HCC.

OncLive: How would you describe the general state of the HCC landscape today?

Sherman: Immunotherapy seems very promising, but we are still waiting for the results of phase III to confirm that, for example, nivolumab (Opdivo) is an effective treatment [in CheckMate-459]. For the moment, this certainly seems to be the case, but we need the final data. There are several other immunotherapies, and if nivolumab is really good, some other immunotherapies are likely to be very effective. [effective].

We will find that even though nivolumab works very well, there will still be a large number of patients who do not respond – and this will be a problem.

The second problem is that, whatever the treatment that will be effective, there will be a big problem of access. That's because all of this is going to be [very] expensive, [various parties] will struggle to find the resources to pay for it. Since liver cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death and the countries with the most liver cancers are often poorer, access will be a major problem.

Discuss targeted therapies available on the front line. Are there any factors that might help you decide between lenvatinib (Lenvima) or sorafenib (Nexavar) for HCC patients?

The factors that would lead one to choose one drug over another are the same, no matter which 2 drugs you are comparing: their effectiveness and toxicity. There is not much difference in the efficacy or toxicity of these drugs. It will therefore be a question of individual choice.