Lenvatinib: Established and Promising Drug for the Treatment of Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2021 Jul 22. doi: 10.1080/17512433.2021.1958674. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTINTRODUCTION: : The evolving therapeutic landscape of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) includes the increasing implementation of target-therapy and immunotherapy. Lenvatinib, a multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), is an emerging first-line therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. Its approval has changed the scenario of first-line therapies for advanced HCC, where just sorafenib proved clinical efficacy for over a decade.AREAS COVERED: : The current evidence on the role of lenvatinib for patients with advanced HCC is reviewed in this article. Particularly, therapeutic mechanisms and clinical efficacy of lenvatinib for these patients, are summarized and the management of adverse events are discussed. In addition, future perspectives on the emerging role of combine therapy for HCC are highlighted.EXPERT OPINION: In the first line, lenvatinib was found to be non-inferior to sorafenib for overall survival (OS), with significantly better progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR). Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are now part of HCC treatment, and recently the combination of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab has become the recommended standard of care first-line therapy for selected patients. The antitumor and immunomodulatory activities that lenvatinib shows in preclinical studies, and the positive outcomes achieved using a combination of le...
Source: Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Source Type: research