Erbitux May Help Some With Colorectal Cancer
April 2 -- WEDNESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- People with advanced colorectal cancer were modestly helped by the drug Erbitux, as long as they didn't have a particular gene mutation, a new study reports.
The study involved more than 1,100 people who had metastatic colorectal cancer that could not be surgically removed. Half were given a standard chemotherapy regimen -- irinotecan, fluorouracil and leucovorin, known as FOLFIRI. The others were given a combination of cetuximab, which is marketed under the brand name Erbitux, along with the standard regimen.
In those who had what's called a "wild type," or normal, form of the KRAS gene, Erbitux kept colorectal cancers from spreading 15 percent longer than did the FOLFIRI drugs alone, the study found. Results are published in the April 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
That translated to 1.2 additional months without the cancer progressing, although the overall length of survival in the group taking the Erbitux was not increased.
"The authors are correct in saying if you add Erbitux to the regimen, it delays the progression of disease," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "But the impact, in my opinion, is not overwhelming."
About 36 percent of the participants in the study had the gene mutation, which renders Erbitux ineffective, while the rest had the normal form of the gene. That's about the same as in the general population, the researchers noted.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. In about 25 percent of people with this type of cancer, the disease has spread by the time it's discovered, according to the study.
Lichtenfeld said that though an additional month of having a tumor not progress may not seem dramatic, progress in treating colorectal cancer has been incremental. Before chemotherapy, the expected survival for metastatic colorectal cancer was 6 months. It's now 21 to 24 months.
A drug that can keep a tumor at bay for an additional month is a welcome addition to an oncologists' arsenal, he said.
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