Contemporary real-world treatment patterns and outcomes of patients with advanced/metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma receiving second-line systemic therapy in the United States.

Abstract

279 Background: Several therapies have recently gained regulatory approval in the United States (US) as second-line (2L) treatment options for patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Treatment patterns and associated outcomes in a real-world population, especially in the contemporary era, remain understudied. Methods: This retrospective study utilized electronic health record data collected during routine patient care in outpatient oncology practices in the US. Adult patients diagnosed with advanced/ metastatic HCC between April 2017 and January 2020 were identified from the Concerto HealthAI database. Patients who survived at least one month from the end of first-line (1L) systemic therapy but did not initiate 2L therapy were classified as having received supportive care alone (SCA). Demographics, patient and disease characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes were described descriptively. Median overall survival (OS) from initiation of 2L therapy or end of 1L therapy for patients receiving SCA until death was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: A total of 586 patients with advanced/ metastatic HCC were identified in the database. 330 patients received 1L therapy, and of those patients 63% (N= 207) received systemic 2L therapy (n= 105) or SCA (n= 102). At first diagnosis of advanced/ metastatic HCC, the median age was 64 years, and 86% were male. Of patients with ECOG status available at diagnosis (67%), 45% had ECOG status 0-1. The most common 1L agents prescribed were sorafenib (n= 126, 61%), lenvatinib (n= 28,14%) and sorafenib + nivolumab (n= 13, 6%) The most frequent agents prescribed in 2L were nivolumab (n= 44, 42%), sorafenib (n=18,17%), and lenvatinib (n=9, 9%). The median OS of patients receiving any systemic 2L therapy was 7.7 months (95% confidence interval 5.7-11.1) from time of receiving 2L therapy, whereas the median OS of patients receiving SCA was 5.0 months (95% confidence interval 3.3-7.1) from time of end of 1L therapy. Conclusions: In this contemporary national real-world cohort of patients with advanced/ metastatic HCC, a third of patients who received 1L therapy subsequently received 2L therapy. Next steps include investigating factors associated with non-receipt of 2L therapy, sequencing of therapies when multiple lines of therapies are received, and evaluating outcomes by type of agent received in 2L and beyond.