Bevacizumab and atezolizumab as first-line therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: A Taiwanese subgroup analysis on efficacy and safety

Background: The combination of bevacizumab and atezolizumab has been established as a standard first-line systemic treatment for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We examined the treatment outcomes of patients in Taiwan who received the combination in 2 pivotal clinical trials.

Methods: All patients who resided in Taiwan, were enrolled in the IMbrave150 and GO30140 studies, and received bevacizumab and atezolizumab as the first-line systemic therapy for unresectable HCC were included. We extracted and pooled anonymous raw data from the study records.

Results: We enrolled 40 patients, with the median age of 62.5 years; 36 (90%) had Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C disease. The response rate was 37.5%, including 3 (7.5%) complete responses. The disease control rate was 85%. The median duration of response was 21.4 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 16.6-not estimable). The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 8.6 (95% CI, 5.6-18.6) and 24.9 months (95% CI, 14.2-not estimable), respectively. The most common adverse events of all grades were proteinuria (50%) and hypertension (37.5%), the median onset of which were 157 and 127 days, respectively. Bevacizumab and atezolizumab treatment had to be interrupted in 20 (50%) and 13 (32.5%) patients, respectively. Among patients whose treatment duration was ≥6 months, 50% of them had to skip bevacizumab, but no signal of poorer PFS or OS was observed.

Conclusion: In Taiwanese patients with advanced HCC, the efficacy and safety outcomes of bevacizumab and atezolizumab treatment were generally consistent with the global intent-to-treat populations.