Dr. Pishvaian Discusses Atezolizumab Plus Bevacizumab in HCC

Michael Pishvaian, MD, PhD, director, Phase I Clinical Program, co-director of the Ruesch Center Pancreatic Cancer Program Medical Oncology, Otto J. Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancer, Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and bevacizumab (Avastin) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

In updated safety and activity results from a phase Ib study presented at the 2018 ESMO Congress, the combination of the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab and the VEGF inhibitor bevacizumab showed promising and durable antitumor activity in patients with advanced HCC. The confirmed investigator-assessed objective response rate was 32%, with more than half of responders maintaining their response for at least 6 months and about one-fourth for at least 12 months.

Prior to the release of these findings, the FDA granted atezolizumab a breakthrough therapy designation for use in combination with bevacizumab as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced or metastatic HCC in July 2018.

Pishvaian says that these results were surprising, as investigators were not expecting to see such promising data. The durability of these responses is even more exciting, he adds.