Astra, Merck Drugs Set to Shake Up Liver Cancer Treatment

Doctors may change how they treat liver cancer after drugs from AstraZeneca Plc and Merck & Co. helped some patients, marking the first treatment progress for them in decades.

Two late-stage studies published Wednesday in The Lancet show that Astra’s Imfinzi and Merck’s Keytruda delayed the progress of liver cancer when combined with other drugs and a local treatment.

Patients whose tumors can’t be treated with surgery lived several months longer without the disease advancing when treated with the Astra and Merck immunotherapies called checkpoint inhibitors.

The data “represents a breakthrough after 20 years,” said Josep Llovet, director of ...