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 CardA primary completion date pushed out, enrollment cut, or a primary endpoint changed in the last 90 days. Active trials only.
| Trial | Warning signs | Status |
|---|---|---|
| LEAF (Liver Tumor dEtection And classiFication AI) NCT06859840 | Primary completion moved at least 8 months later Primary endpoint reworded Primary endpoints removed | Active, Not Recruiting |
62 more on the Trials at Risk page. See which trials →
Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials with a primary completion date in the next 180 days, as ClinicalTrials.gov estimates it today. Active trials only.
| Trial | Scheduled | Phase |
|---|---|---|
| A Study of Cobolimab Plus Dostarlimab in Pediatric and Young Adult Participants… NCT06521567 | Oct 13, 2026 · Estimated | Phase 1/2 |
85 more on the Completions page. See the calendar →
What we monitor for liver cancer
Our system pulls from the ClinicalTrials.gov API every day. For an HCC watch profile, you can configure a saved search 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 digest in 2 minutes. Daily digest to your inbox. Free to start.
Track Free HCC Trials1263 active trials, 731 recruiting.
Industry sponsors run 229 of these trials. The rest are run by universities, hospitals, government bodies and other non-commercial sponsors. The table below lists the 5 largest of 152.
| Top industry sponsor | Active trials |
|---|---|
| AstraZeneca | 17 |
| Roche / Genentech | 7 |
| Akeso | 6 |
| AbbVie | 5 |
| Exelixis | 4 |
| Trial | Status | Latest tracked change | Seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychoeducational Intervention for Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma NCT06541990 | Recruiting | Completion pushed from Sep 30, 2026 to Jun 30, 2027 | 2026-10-10 |
| SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccination in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated… NCT07341321 | Recruiting | Completion pushed from Dec 2026 to Dec 2027 | 2026-10-09 |
| Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab Pre-Liver Transplantation for Patients With… NCT05185505 | Enrolling by Invitation | Completion pushed from Oct 31, 2027 to Oct 31, 2028 | 2026-10-09 |
| A Study Evaluating Atezolizumab, With or Without Bevacizumab, in Participants… NCT06096779 | Active, Not Recruiting | Trial sites reduced: 59 → 54 locations | 2026-10-09 |
| Oncology, Undernutrition and Sensoriality: Links, Mechanisms and Levers for… NCT06600295 | Recruiting | Completion pushed from Sep 2027 to Sep 2031 | 2026-10-09 |
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 in your email digest, track up to 5 individual trials, daily change detection, Trials at Risk (top 2 trials), the weekly report (top 3 trials). No credit card.
Pro, $49/month or $490/year: 10 sponsor + 10 disease watchlists, 10 saved searches in your email digest, track up to 25 individual trials, full Trials at Risk list, Completions calendar, the full weekly report, landscape reports, CSV export.