CHICAGO -- Combining standard transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with the immunotherapy-based STRIDE regimen improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the phase III EMERALD-3 study showed.
Median PFS was 13 months in patients who received a single dose of tremelimumab (Imjudo) and regular-interval durvalumab (Imfinzi), known as STRIDE, with lenvatinib (Lenvima) plus TACE versus 9.8 months for those who received TACE alone (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.57-0.86, P=0.0007), reported Ghassan Abou-Alfa, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
While data on overall survival (OS) were immature, there was a positive trend in favor of the combination group, with a median OS of 39.5 months versus 34.7 months with TACE alone (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.65-1.09, P=0.1814).
"EMERALD-3 is the first phase III clinical trial to demonstrate that a STRIDE-based regimen improves clinical outcomes when combined with TACE, supporting its role as a potential new treatment option for unresectable embolization-eligible HCC," Abou-Alfa said here at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.
However, patients who received STRIDE and TACE -- with or without lenvatinib -- experienced more side effects than those who received TACE alone, with grade 3 or 4 adverse events (AEs) reported in 71.4% of those who received STRIDE with lenvatinib and TACE, 64% of those who received STRIDE with TACE, and 28.6% of those who received TACE alone.
