AstraZeneca's Imfinzi + CTLA-4 inhibitor improves survival as liver cancer treatment
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The combination of AstraZeneca's (NASDAQ:AZN) Imfinzi (durvalumab) + the company's experimental CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab led to a clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival ("OS") versus Nexavar (sorafenib) as a first-line unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma treatment.
Patients in the phase 3 HIMALAYA trial did not receive prior systemic therapy and were not eligible for localized treatment.

A single priming dose of tremelimumab plus Imfinzi every fourweeks reduced the risk of death by 22%. Median OS was 16.4 months for the combo versus 13.8 months for Nexavar. An estimated 31% of patients were alive at three years versus 20% for Nexavar.
Also, median duration of response was 22.3 months with the Imfinzi + tremelimumab regimen versus 18.4 months with Nexavar.
The data will be presented on Friday at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
Another Imfinzi combination trial from last year showed a positive effect in non-small cell lung cancer.