Survival in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: Comparison of four treatments based on patients reconstructed from Kaplan–Meier curves of randomized trials

Table 1 Summary of the main clinical characteristics of patients included in the analysis, n (%)

Ref.	Treatments under comparison	Regions	Patient number	Number of events OS	HR (reported in the original trial)	Geographical region (Asia)	Etiology (HBV-HCV positivity)
Cheng et al[3], 2022, IMbrave150	Atezolizumab + bevacizumab vs sorafenib	17 countries and regions	336; 165	179; 99	0.66 (95%CI: 0.52-0.85)	133 (57); 68 (41)	236 (70); 112 (68)
Sangro et al[4], 2024, HIMALAYA	Tremelimumab + durvalumab vs sorafenib	Asia (except Japan), 83%	393; 389	291; 316	0.78 (95%CI: 0.67-0.92)	41 (39.8); 23 (35.9)	63 (61.1); 42 (65.6)
Yau et al[6], 2024, COSMIC-312	Cabozantinib + atezolizumab vs sorafenib	Asia, 29%; other, 71%	432; 217	262; 121	0.98 (95%CI: 0.78-1.24)	127 (29); 63 (29)	263 (60); 131 (60)
Qin et al[7], 2025, CARES-310	Camrelizumab + rivoceranib vs sorafenib	Asia, 83%	272; 271	111; 151	0.64 (95%CI: 0.49-0.80)	225 (83); 224 (83)	230 (84); 226 (84)
Shi et al[8], 2025, HEPATORCH	Toripalimab + bevacizumab vs sorafenib	China, 96%	162; 164	104; 126	0.76 (95%CI: 0.58-0.99)	NR	293 (90); 15 (5)
Zhou et al[10], 2025, APOLLO	Anlotinib + penpulimab vs sorafenib	China, 100%	433; 216	217; 122	0.69 (95%CI: 0.55-0.87)	433 (100); 216 (100)	381 (88); 188 (87)
Llovet et al[9], 2023, LEAP-002	Lenvatinib + pembrolizumab vs lenvatinib	Asia (excluding Japan), 31%; Japan and Western regions, 69%	395; 399	252; 282	0.84 (95%CI: 0.71-1.00)	172 (44); 173 (43)	247 (63); 237 (59)
Yau et al[5], 2025, CheckMate 9DW1	Nivolumab + ipilimumab vs sorafenib/lenvatinib	Europe or North America, 43%; Asia, 42%	335; 333	194; 228	0.79 (95%CI: 0.65-0.96)	140 (42); 152 (46)	211 (63); 214 (65)

¹Among the 325 controls of this trial, 275 (85%) received lenvatinib while 50 (15%) received sorafenib.

OS: Overall survival; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; HR: Hazard ratio; NR: Not reported.

Table 2 Overall survival estimates of first line treatments for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma compared to sorafenib and to camrelizumab plus rivoceranib are reported as restricted mean survival time (expressed in months) with 95%CI in the overall population at 28 months of follow-up

Arm	RMST (months)	Lower 95%CI	Upper 95%CI	Difference in RMST compared to sorafenib/lenvatinib (months)	Difference in RMST compared to camrelizumab + rivoceranib (months)
Sorafenib (pooled)	15.87	15.33	16.40	0	-3.78
Camrelizumab + rivoceranib	19.65	18.42	20.87	3.78	0
Tremelimumab + durvalumab	17.18	16.17	18.20	1.32	-2.46
Atezolizumab + bevacizumab	18.22	17.11	19.32	2.35	-1.42
Toripalimab + bevacizumab	16.88	15.93	17.82	1.01	-2.77
Anlotinib + penpulimab	17.94	16.37	19.51	2.07	-1.71
Lenvatinib (pooled)	18.86	18.21	19.58	3.01	-0.77
Pembrolizumab + lenvatinib	19.63	18.73	20.54	3.77	-0.01
Nivolumab + ipilimumab	19.14	18.03	20.24	3.27	-0.51

RMST: Restricted mean survival time.