Multicenter study of apatinib as second-line or later therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

The randomized phase 3 AHELP study in 31 centers in China compared apatinib versus placebo after at least one line of systemic therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. The median overall survival was 8.7 months with apatinib versus 6.8 months with placebo (HR 0.785; p=0.048). The safety profile was manageable. Nine percent of patients in the apatinib group versus 10% of patients in the placebo group died due to adverse events, but none of these deaths were deemed to be related to treatment.