Real-world efficacy and safety of donafenib-based therapies in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: A retrospective study.

e16169 Background: According to the results of phase III ZGDH3 study, donafenib has significantly improved overall survival (OS) versus sorafenib in first-line treatment for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC). The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of donafenib-based therapies in patients with uHCC regardless of first- or later-line systemic therapy. Methods: This single-center retrospective study involved 30 patients with histopathologically/cytologically or clinically confirmed uHCC at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University between August 2021 and February 2022. Eligible patients underwent donafenib-based therapies until disease progression, death, or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) per the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) v1.1. Secondary endpoints included OS, objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and safety. Tumor response was determined according to the RECIST v1.1 and modified (m)RECIST. Results: Of these eligible 30 patients, the median age was 55 years (range, 27–73), 93% were male, 93% with HBV and 63% were BCLC C. Donafenib was commonly used as a monotherapy (17%) or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), transarterial therapy, both, or other treatments. Twenty (67%) patients underwent donafenib-based therapies as a first-line treatment, of which 15 (75%) underwent a triple combination of donafenib, ICIs, and transarterial therapy. By the cutoff date of January 2023, the median PFS and OS were not yet reached; the 6-month PFS and OS rates were 70.0% and 90.0%, respectively, and the 12-month PFS and OS rates were 66.5% and 86.5%, respectively. The ORR and DCR for all patients were 43.3% and 73.3%, respectively, based on both RECIST v1.1 (CR 4 [13.3%], PR 9 [30.0%], SD 9 [30.0%]) and mRECIST (CR 5 [16.7%], PR 8 [26.7%], SD 9 [30.0%]). Among the 20 patients who underwent donafenib-based first-line systemic therapy, the ORRs according to RECIST v1.1 and mRECIST were both 55.0%, and higher ORRs (73.3% per RECIST v1.1 and mRECIST) were observed in 15 patients who underwent donafenib, ICIs, and transarterial therapy. Overall, 15 (50.0%) patients had more than one treatment-related adverse event (TRAEs) and the most common AEs were hand-foot skin reaction (26.7%), rash (10.0%), and gingival bleeding (10.0%). Grade 3 AEs occurred in 16.7% of patients. No TRAE led to death in the study. Conclusions: This study indicated that donafenib-based therapies, particularly donafenib in combination with ICIs plus transarterial therapy, show promising antitumor activity in patients with uHCC, and no new safety signals were observed in real-world settings. Clinical trial information: ChiCTR2200063822 .