National Cancer Institute - NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and ...

with or without bevacizumab (NSC # 704865)
in patients with advanced non-squamous nonsmall
cell lung cancer (NSCLC): an Eastern Cooperative
Oncology Group (ECOG) Trial - E4599.
Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 2005:23;1090S.
Adding Bevacizumab to Oxaliplatin-
Based Chemotherapy Prolongs
Survival for Previously Treated
Patients with Advanced
Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer is the third most common
cancer in both men and women in
the United States. An estimated 55,170
deaths from colorectal cancer will occur
in 2006, accounting for about 10 percent
of all cancer deaths in the nation. A recent
phase III study, sponsored by CTEP and
performed by the Eastern Cooperative
Oncology Group, examined high-dose
bevacizumab given either alone or in
combination with FOLFOX4, an oxaliplatinbased
chemotherapy regimen, compared
to FOLFOX4 alone, in patients with
previously treated advanced colorectal
cancer.
A total of 829 patients, all of whom
previously had received a fluorouracilbased
chemotherapy and irinotecan,
were enrolled in the study from November
2001 to April 2003. The bevacizumabalone
arm of the study was closed in
March 2003 on the recommendation of
the Data Monitoring Committee when
review of early results suggested OS for
patients in that group might be lower
than that of patients treated in the other
two groups.
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Updated efficacy results from this trial,
presented at the 2005 annual meeting
of the American Society of Clinical
Oncology, demonstrated that high-dose
bevacizumab in combination with an
oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy regimen
is well tolerated and improves OS and
progression-free survival in previously
treated patients with advanced colorectal
cancer.
The bevacizumab/FOLFOX4 approach
is now being tested in the adjuvant
(postsurgical) setting for colon cancer.
Giantonio BJ, Catalano PJ, Meropol NJ, O’Dwyer
PJ, Mitchell EP, Alberts SR, Schwartz MA, Benson
AB. High-dose bevacizumab improves survival
when combined with FOLFOX4 in previously
treated advanced colorectal cancer: results from
the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG)
study E3200. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 2005:23;1S.
Oxaliplatin in Combination with
a Bolus 5-Fluorouracil/Leucovorin
Regimen Reduces Recurrence in
Early Stage Colon Cancer
Multiple randomized trials over the last
three decades have validated the use of
systemic therapy to prolong survival for
patients with stage III colon cancer. In
one recent study, the CCOP sponsored
MOSAIC, a large, randomized clinical trial,
which demonstrated that oxaliplatin,
when combined with infusional 5-fluorouracil
(5-FU) and leucovorin (LV), increased
the three-year DFS for patients with earlystage
colon cancer compared to standard
therapy 5-FU/LV alone. The MOSAIC trial,
however, did not address whether oxaliplatin
in combination with bolus 5-FU and