Regorafenib as second-line therapy for intermediate or advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: multicentre, open-label, phase II safety study

Abstract

Purpose: We assessed the safety of the multikinase inhibitor regorafenib in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that had progressed following first-line sorafenib.

Patients and methods: Thirty-six patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B or C HCC and preserved to mildly impaired liver function (Child-Pugh class A) received regorafenib 160 mg once daily in cycles of 3 weeks on/1 week off treatment until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, death or patient/physician decision to discontinue. The primary end-point was safety; secondary end-points included efficacy (including time to progression and overall survival).

Results: The median treatment duration was 19.5 weeks (range 2-103). At data cutoff, three patients remained on treatment. Reasons for discontinuation were adverse events (n=20), disease progression (n=10), consent withdrawal (n=2) and death (n=1). Seventeen patients required dose reductions (mostly for adverse events [n=15]); 35 patients had treatment interruption (mostly for adverse events [n=32] or patient error [n=11]). The most frequent treatment-related adverse events were hand-foot skin reaction (any grade n=19; grade ≥3 n=5), diarrhoea (n=19; n=2), fatigue (n=19; n=6), hypothyroidism (n=15; n=0), anorexia (n=13; n=0), hypertension (n=13; n=1), nausea (n=12; n=0) and voice changes (n=10; n=0). Disease control was achieved in 26 patients (partial response n=1; stable disease n=25). Median time to progression was 4.3 months. Median overall survival was 13.8 months.

Conclusion: Regorafenib had acceptable tolerability and evidence of antitumour activity in patients with intermediate or advanced HCC that progressed following first-line sorafenib.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01003015.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; Receptor kinase inhibition; Regorafenib; Safety; Second line; Tolerability.