Dr. Andrew Zhu on Ramucirumab for HCC

Andrew Zhu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School Director, Liver Cancer Research, Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the REACH study, which looks at ramucirumab in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Since the approval of sorafenib, which is currently the only approved drug for HCC, there have been many attempts to find a therapy that can be used for patients that are refractory to sorafenib, says Zhu. The REACH study investigated sorafenib versus placebo plus best supportive card for patients that progressed on sorafenib or could not tolerate the therapy.

Despite a numeric improvement in median overall survival , the primary endpoint for the overall intent-to-treat population was not met, says Zhu. However in a subgroup with high alpha-fetoprotein levels, which is about 40-50% of the population, there was a highly statistically significant improvement in median overall survival.

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