The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7253 p818
14 June 2003

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

Meeting summaries  7 June   14 June

Related websites
American Society of Clinical Oncology (more)

Paclitaxel shows benefits in head and neck cancer

Patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer have a more complete response when paclitaxel (Taxol) is added to their standard treatment (cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil), new trial data suggest.

The results, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting by Dr Ricado Hitt, Hospital '12 de Octubre' Madrid, show that patients given the paclitaxel combination survived with no signs of tumour progression for longer than patients given standard therapy (23 months versus 18 months). In addition, more patients treated with the paclitaxel regimen than the standard regimen had a complete response (33.2 per cent versus 14.4 per cent, P=0.000007). Organs involved in speaking and swallowing were preserved in 85.7 per cent of patients who received paclitaxel compared with 75.3 per cent of patients treated with cisplatin plus 5-FU (P=0.06).

Commenting on the trial results, Dr Robert Mayer, director of the centre for gastrointestinal oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and chairman of the conference session, said: "[This will] very likely change the way patients with head and neck cancer are managed."

The Journal attended the 39th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held in Chicago, Illinois, from 31 May until 3 June, courtesy of Eli Lilly. It was attended by more than 25,000 cancer specialists