DOI: 10.1097/01.COT.0000363653.00550.7b

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Issn Print: 0276-2234

Publication Date: 2009/10/25


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Cetuximab Improves Lung Cancer Survival Rates, Regardless of Chemo Choice

Charlene Laino

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Excerpt

BERLIN—Adding the epidermal growth receptor factor (EGFR) blocker cetuximab to standard chemotherapy drugs significantly reduces the risk of death for advanced non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) patients–regardless of the platinum chemotherapy cocktail used.
That's the conclusion of a large meta-analysis presented here at the joint Congress of the European CanCer Organisation and European Society for Medical Oncology (ECCO15-ESMO34) by Jean-Louis Pujol, MD, PhD, Chairman of Thoracic Oncology at Montpelier Academic Hospital in France.
Last year, a Phase III study showed that adding cetuximab to vinorelbine/cisplatin chemotherapy significantly improves overall survival in patients with NSCLC (Pirker et al: JCO 2008;26(Suppl. 15): Abstract 3).
Three other randomized studies have demonstrated the improved efficacy of cetuximab added to different platinum doublets, compared with the platinum doublet alone: a Phase III study comparing carboplatin/docetaxel or carboplatin/paclitaxel, with or without cetuximab (Lynch et al: J Thorac Oncol 2008;3[Suppl 4]: S305), and two randomized Phase II studies investigating cisplatin/gemcitabine or carboplatin/ gemcitabine, and cisplatin/vinorelbine, with or without cetuximab (Butts et al: JCO 2007; 25:5777–5784, Rosell et al: Ann Oncol 2008; 19:362–369).
To confirm the robustness of the efficacy results and find out whether the choice of chemotherapy drugs mattered, Dr. Pujol and colleagues combined data from the four trials.

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