| May
31, 2008
Avastin plus chemo better without Erbitux
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Colon cancer patients treated with Genentech Inc's Avastin and chemotherapy lived longer without their disease getting worse than those who were also treated with ImClone Systems Inc's Erbitux, according to a study presented on Saturday.
In the 755-patient study, those in the Avastin (bevacizumab) plus chemotherapy group had median progression-free survival of 10.7 months, researchers said.
With Erbitux (cetuximab) added to the mix, median progression-free survival fell to 9.8 months, according to data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.
When measuring median overall survival, the results from both groups were comparable: 20.4 months versus 20.3 months in the Erbitux group, researchers said.
Patients in the triple combination arm had a 10 percent higher incidence of serious side effects, which was mainly attributed to Erbitux-related skin toxicity.
The results mirror those seen in a trial of Amgen Inc's Vectibix (panitumumab), which, like Erbitux, is an antibody designed to block a protein called epidermal growth factor.
Amgen last year halted a key trial after finding that colon cancer patients treated with just chemotherapy and Avastin had a better chance of survival than patients who also received Vectibix.
Source: www.reuters.com
Comments:
This study indicated that group that received Avastin did not only live longer (20.4 months versus 20.3 months median overall survival with Erbitux group) but also suffered less side effects. However is an interesting war going on between two drug giants—Roche along with Genentech owns rights for Avastin and Merck with ImClone owns the rights for Erbitux. Avastin is approved for colorectal, lung and breast cancer, while Erbitux is approved for colorectal and head and neck cancer. This war also highlights the desperate attempt of the drug industry as general to somehow show that their drugs are better. Overall survival improvement from 20.3 to 20.4 months is 0.1 month, which equals 3 days!! Can this promotion of Avastin be really called a success? Immediately after these study results were disclosed in American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, the share prices of all the involved companies reflected the results appropriately. Even if billions of dollars are being spent in generating new therapies, cancer patients are not seeing any radical changes in their survival or recurrence rates; at the same time natural effective alternatives are fought or ridiculed. So why is this going on anyway? Patients should demand large funding for studies with the use of natural science based approaches that address root causes of disease; not only have palliative effects.
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