Dr. Finn on Finding a Biomarker for Patients With HCC

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Richard S. Finn, MD, an associate professor of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, discusses the challenges with determing a biomarker for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in an interview during the 10th Annual Conference of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA) in Vancouver, Canada. Finn is the current ILCA president.

Biomarker selection for systemic treatments has become a challenge in this particular field, Finn says. Factors that are currently considered are performance status, underlying liver function, and tolerability of systemic treatment. Researchers stil have not determined a biomarker for patients to receive either sorafenib (Nexavar) or regorafenib (Stivarga).

However, ongoing clinical trials are looking at biomarker-selected patients that will hopefully associate with response to a systemic therapy, he explains. For example, tivantinib is being studied in a population of patients with elevated expression of the c-MET receptor. Other studies are looking at patients with alterations in the FGF receptor 4—FGF19 signaling axis, as well as second-line ramucirumab (Cyramza) in patients with elevated alpha fetoprotein.

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