A single-arm, multicenter, open-label phase 2 trial of surufatinib in patients with unresectable or metastatic biliary tract cancer.

Background: Several clinical studies of vascular endothelial growth factor/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGF/VEGFR) therapy as a second-line treatment for biliary tract cancer (BTC) have shown modest efficacy. In this study, surufatinib was evaluated as a second-line VEGFR therapy in patients with BTC.

Methods: This was a single-arm, multicenter, open-label phase 2 study conducted in China. The study enrolled eligible patients with BTC, who had received surufatinib monotherapy as second-line treatment, at a dose of 300 mg, once daily, in 28-day cycles. Tumor assessments were performed every 8 weeks (±7 days) according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1.

Results: As of November 30, 2018, 39 patients with BTC, including 29 (74.4%) with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, 5 (12.8%) with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and 5 (12.8%) with gallbladder cancer, were enrolled and treated with surufatinib. The 16-week progression-free survival rate was 46.33% (95% CI, 24.38-65.73), with median progression-free survival of 3.7 months and median overall survival of 6.9 months. In addition, results from subgroup and post hoc analyses revealed that patients with the proper tumor locations or appropriate levels of serum biomarkers might receive greater clinical benefits. The top 3 treatment-related adverse events with severity of grade ≥3 included blood bilirubin increased (20.5%), hypertension (17.9%), and proteinuria (12.8%).

Conclusions: When applied in the treatment of patients with BTC, surufatinib monotherapy has offered moderate clinical efficacy and shown expected tolerability and safety profiles.