Why liver cancer trial monitoring matters in 2026
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary liver cancer and the third-leading cause of cancer death worldwide. With over 900,000 new cases annually and a 5-year survival rate below 20% for advanced disease, HCC represents one of oncology's largest unmet needs — and one of its most active development pipelines.
The treatment landscape shifted dramatically when atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Tecentriq+Avastin) overtook sorafenib as first-line standard of care in 2020. Since then, the field has exploded:
- IO+IO combinations — durvalumab plus tremelimumab (HIMALAYA), nivolumab-based combinations expanding across lines
- IO+TKI combinations — pembrolizumab plus lenvatinib, camrelizumab plus rivoceranib — multiple Phase 3 programs competing in first-line
- ADCs — glypican-3 (GPC3) targeted ADCs emerging as high-priority targets given HCC-specific expression
- Locoregional + systemic combinations — TACE, TARE (Y-90), and ablation paired with immunotherapy in a crowded Phase 2/3 space
- CAR-T and TCR-T cell therapies — GPC3 and AFP-directed cellular therapies entering the clinic
- NASH-associated HCC prevention — trials in cirrhotic patients at high HCC risk
Track every new HCC trial automatically
ClinicalTrials.gov updates daily. Our pipeline monitors it for you and delivers a clean digest every morning.
Start Free — No Credit CardWhat we monitor for liver cancer
Our system pulls from the ClinicalTrials.gov API every day. For an HCC watch profile, you can configure alerts for:
- Condition keywords: "hepatocellular carcinoma", "HCC", "liver cancer", "hepatocellular cancer", "primary liver cancer"
- Drug/target keywords: "sorafenib", "lenvatinib", "atezolizumab", "nivolumab", "GPC3", "glypican-3", "AFP", "TACE" — any drug or mechanism you're tracking
- Phase filter: Phase 1 for early competitive intelligence, Phase 2/3 for near-term competitive positioning
- Sponsor type: Industry only or all sponsors including academic and government
- Status changes: New trials, status updates, enrollment completions, results postings, and terminations
The competitive landscape in HCC systemic therapy
HCC is unusual in that it has multiple active Phase 3 programs competing simultaneously across first-, second-, and third-line settings. The sheer number of IO combinations in development means the competitive intelligence burden is high:
- First-line: Atezo+bev (approved), durvalumab+treme (approved), pembrolizumab+lenvatinib (approved) — plus multiple Phase 3 challengers
- Second-line post-IO: Largely undefined standard; multiple programs racing to establish a standard
- Adjuvant/perioperative: Multiple IO trials in resected HCC — this is the next major battleground
- Locoregional combination: TACE+IO trials represent the largest single category of new HCC registrations
Monitoring new registrations on ClinicalTrials.gov weekly gives BD teams a 4–8 week head start on competitor trial initiations before conference presentations.
Who uses HCC clinical trial monitoring
- Oncology biotech and pharma BD teams — tracking competitor IO, TKI, and ADC programs for partnering and pipeline decisions
- Oncology investors — monitoring Phase 2/3 initiations and enrollment milestones for HCC-focused companies
- Interventional radiology practices — staying current on TACE/TARE combination trial enrollment in their region
- CROs and site networks — identifying competing enrollment for active HCC trials
- Hepatology and oncology researchers — monitoring the landscape for collaboration and competitive positioning
Stop manually checking ClinicalTrials.gov for HCC trials
Set up your liver cancer alert profile in 2 minutes. Daily digest to your inbox. Free to start.
Track Free HCC Trials1399 active trials, 787 recruiting. Phases: Early Phase 1: 21, Phase 1: 255, Phase 2: 509, Phase 3: 109, Phase 4: 25.
| Top sponsor | Trials |
|---|---|
| AstraZeneca | 18 |
| Roche / Genentech | 9 |
| Akeso | 6 |
| Suzhou Suncadia Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. | 4 |
| Exelixis | 4 |
| Trial | Status | Latest tracked change | Seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| GKL-006 Injection Plus TACE Versus TACE Alone in Patients With Unresectable… NCT07209813 | Recruiting | Completion pushed: 2026-10-31 → 2027-10-31 | 2026-08-18 |
| Shuganhuazhuo Formula for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma With Damp-Heat… NCT07691645 | Not Yet Recruiting | Completion pushed: 2031-08-31 → 2032-08-31 | 2026-08-28 |
| Evaluation of the Distribution of 64Cu/68Ga Labeled CM500 in Healthy Volunteers… NCT07781852 | Not Yet Recruiting | Primary endpoint(s) modified | 2026-08-26 |
| Pre- and Post-operative TEG Indices in Patients With or Without Adenocarcinoma… NCT05517811 | Recruiting | Enrollment reduced: 400 → 200 participants | 2026-08-25 |
| A First-in-Human Study of HH160 in Participants With Advanced or Metastatic… NCT07623369 | Recruiting | Primary completion moved earlier: 2028-08 → 2027-08 | 2026-08-22 |
Each trial page shows every change DataLookout has recorded for that trial.
DataLookout checks ClinicalTrials.gov every day and records what changed on each trial: status, enrollment, phase, primary endpoint, completion dates, sites, sponsor, and the stated reason a trial stopped. Add a sponsor or a disease to your watchlist, or save any search, and the changes arrive in a daily or weekly email digest.
Free, $0 forever: 1 sponsor + 1 disease watchlist, 1 saved search with email alerts, track up to 5 individual trials, daily change detection, Trials at Risk (top trial). No credit card.
Starter, $49/month: 3 sponsor + 3 disease watchlists, 3 saved searches with email alerts, track up to 25 individual trials, full Trials at Risk list and landscape reports.
Pro, $149/month: unlimited sponsor and disease watchlists, unlimited saved searches, track unlimited individual trials, CSV export, priority email support.