Conference Marks a Decade of Milestones in HCC

Coverage from the 10th Annual Conference of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA) is included in this issue ofHCC Monitor, and paints a vibrant picture of this change. On the first day of the conference, experts looked back at the past 10 years of advances in the field and made note of several key milestones that had occurred since the conferences was founded in 2006.

These milestones include a growing recognition that liver cancer is a significant health problem worldwide and needs additional investment of research dollars to improve patient outcomes. Moreover, the experts noted that treating patients with liver cancer requires a complex multidisciplinary management team, which is reflected in an ILCA membership that includes hepatologists, oncologists, surgeons, pathologists, and other specialists.

The conference was formed around the time that sorafenib was being evaluated, to paint a picture of the advances that have shaped the field. In 2007, the FDA approved the multikinase inhibitor for the treatment of patients with advanced, unresectable HCC, based on a 3-month improvement in median overall survival (OS) compared with placebo (10.7 vs 7.9 months; HR, 0.69).

Now, in 2016, we are on the cusp of another great advance in systemic therapy, as regorafenib is on the verge of gaining approvals from regulatory agencies worldwide. Regorafenib demonstrated a 38% reduction in the risk of death compared with best supportive care in patients with unresectable HCC who progressed after receiving sorafenib. Regorafenib improved median OS by 2.8 months compared with placebo in the phase III RESORCE trial (10.6 vs 7.8 months; HR, 0.62).

With this advance, new techniques in radiological interventions, better molecular understanding, and numerous other phase III trials currently ongoing, the next 10 years look bright for patients with HCC, and we look forward to sharing these advances with you.

Thanks for reading.

Mike Hennessy