AbbVie terminates Phase 1b liver cancer trial of livmoniplimab plus budigalimab in China

AbbVie has terminated a Phase 1b trial testing livmoniplimab in combination with budigalimab in Chinese patients with locally advanced or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a ClinicalTrials.gov record last updated October 21, 2026. The listed reason for stopping was "Strategic considerations."

The study, registered as NCT06487559 with sponsor ID M24-695, began on September 11, 2024, and both its primary completion and overall study completion dates are listed as September 18, 2026. The trial had planned to enroll approximately 20 adult participants across 15 sites in China¹, but actual enrollment reached only 3 participants.

The design called for two stages. Stage 1 was a safety run-in with two treatment arms in which participants would receive escalating doses of livmoniplimab in combination with a fixed dose of budigalimab.¹ Stage 2 was intended as dose expansion, also with two treatment arms, in which participants would receive livmoniplimab combined with budigalimab at multiple doses.¹ In the dose escalation portion, participants were to receive intravenous infusions of escalating doses of livmoniplimab plus budigalimab every 3 weeks, while the expansion portion called for multiple-dose infusions on the same three-week schedule.¹

Eligible patients needed Child-Pugh A liver function and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B or C disease, and had to have received an immune checkpoint inhibitor as part of their first-line HCC treatment regimen. The primary outcomes being measured included the percentage of participants with adverse events, dose-limiting toxicities, and pharmacokinetic measures such as maximum plasma concentration and area under the concentration curve for both drugs. Secondary outcomes covered tumor response, duration of response, progression-free survival, and overall survival.