HLB’s Rivoceranib & Camrelizumab Combination Therapy Demonstrates Significant Benefit in Liver cancer Treatment, Published in ‘Teh Lancet’
HLB Group announced that recent clinical trial results, published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, demonstrate a more than doubled survival period without cancer recurrence or progression for patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) when treated with a combination of riboceranib and camrelizumab both before and after surgery, compared to surgery alone.
This marks the first exhibition of the effectiveness of this combination therapy in patients with early and mid-stage HCC suitable for surgical intervention. HLB emphasizes the potential for rivoceranib and camrelizumab to be applied across the entire liver cancer treatment cycle, extending beyond its current use in advanced stages.
The Phase 2/3, multicenter, randomized clinical trial was spearheaded by HLB’s Chinese partner, Hengseo Pharmaceutical, and involved 294 patients with resectable HCC at high or medium risk of recurrence, across 16 hospitals in China. Participants were randomly assigned to either a surgery-only group or a perioperative treatment group receiving rivoceranib and camrelizumab before and after surgery.
Results showed a median event-free survival (EFS) of 42.1 months in the perioperative treatment group – more than double the 19.4 months observed in the surgery-only group. Furthermore, the pathological response rate (MPR) – indicating the proportion of patients with less than half of viable cancer cells remaining in surgically removed tissue – was 35% in the treatment group, over four times higher than the 8% in the surgery-only group.
Grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events occurred in 38% of the perioperative treatment group, a rate the company notes is consistent with combination targeted therapy and immunotherapy, and deemed manageable with a safety profile comparable to existing studies.
HLB and Hengseo Pharmaceutical have, through this study, validated a sequential immunotherapy and targeted therapy approach before and after surgery in a global Phase 3 clinical trial.HLB states that this is the first instance of systemic therapy establishing itself as a standard treatment option for HCC prior to or following surgical resection.
The study was published in the ‘online First’ section of The Lancet website, signifying its importance and the need for rapid dissemination of the findings.
“This clinical trial presents a new treatment option in the field of liver cancer that goes beyond the existing treatment of surgery alone,” stated Yonghae Han, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of HLB Group. “If the scope of use of rivoceranib + camrelizumab combination therapy is expanded to pre- and post-surgery, the market scope can be greatly expanded, so future new drug approvals will be expanded and global clinical trials will be conducted. It will be an vital basis for establishing strategy.”
