The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7350 p605
21 May 2005

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Angiogenesis inhibitor extends survival in lung cancer and advanced breast cancer

The angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab (rhuMAb-VEGF; Avastin) extends survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and in women with advanced breast cancer, according to studies reported this week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.

A US study randomised 878 patients with previously untreated advanced non-squamous NSCLC to standard platinum-based chemotherapy (paclitaxel and carboplatin) plus bevacizumab (15mg/kg) or placebo, given every three weeks for up to six courses. Results showed that bevacizumab increased overall survival by 30 per cent. The median survival was 12.5 months in patients treated with bevacizumab compared with 10.2 months in the placebo plus chemotherapy group (P=0.0075).

Results demonstrated a 61 per cent improvement in progression-free survival, with median progression-free survival of 6.4 months with bevacizumab compared with 4.5 months for chemotherapy alone (P<0.0001). There was also an increase in response rates in the active treatment group (27 per cent vs 10 per cent; P<0.0001).

The lead author of the study, Alan Sandler, associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, Nashville, Tennessee, said: “This is the first study in years to show an increase in survival for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC.”

Another phase III trial demonstrated benefits for the first time with anti-angiogenic therapy in breast cancer, randomising 722 women with previously untreated metastatic breast cancer to paclitaxel with or without bevacizumab. Adding bevacizumab increased median progression-free survival to 11 months, compared with six months for patients treated with standard chemotherapy. Results from this interim analysis showed a 49 per cent improvement in overall survival and a response rate of 28 per cent in the women treated with bevacizumab compared with 14 per cent in those treated with chemotherapy alone.