Background: The multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib is approved for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in adults, who have previously been treated with sorafenib. In the pivotal phase 3 CELESTIAL trial a significant improvement for OS and PFS was shown for cabozantinib in comparison to placebo treated patients (Abou-Alfa GK et al. N Engl J Med 2018; 379:54-63). However, in 62% of patients a dose reduction of cabozantinib was necessary and the median average daily dose was 35.8 mg. The discontinuation rate due to treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) was 16% and grade 3-4 TRAEs occurred in 68% of patients. For HCC patients treated with sorafenib in first-line, a reduced starting dose of 200 mg BID was not inferior in terms of OS but showed a trend toward a decreased rate of sorafenib discontinuation(Reiss KA et al. J Clin Oncol 2017; 35:3575-3581). The aim of the CaboRISE trial is to study the effect of a reduced starting dose of cabozantinib on tolerability, safety, and efficacy. Methods: The CaboRISE trial is an open-label, single arm, multicenter phase II trial, including patients with advanced stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with compensated liver cirrhosis (Child-Pugh A) in second line treatment, after first line treatment with sorafenib or lenvatinib. Forty evaluable patients will be enrolled in the study to receive a reduced starting dose of 40 mg cabozantinib once-daily for 4 weeks and subsequent dose escalation to 60 mg cabozantinib once-daily to be maintained until disease progression or intolerable toxicities. The objective of the trial is to assess the tolerability of a reduced starting dose of cabozantinib, in order to reduce the treatment discontinuation rates due to treatment-related adverse events below 10%. Primary endpoint is the treatment discontinuation rate due to TRAEs. Secondary endpoints are overall survival, progression free survival at 10 weeks, objective response rate, time on treatment, treatment exposure, toxicity, and quality of life. Study start of the CaboRISE trial was in October 2020. By February 2021, 7 centers across Germany have been initiated and a total of 4 out of 40 planned patients have been enrolled. The study is currently ongoing. This study is financially supported by Ipsen. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04522908 EudraCT: 2020-000775-20. Clinical trial information: NCT04522908