A news release from last Wednesday stated that the clinical trial of NSABP C-08 was negative.

This was the clinical trial testing whether the addition of Avastin to FOLFOX would increase efficacy in reducing recurrence for patients with stage II and III colon cancer.  FOLFOX was given over 6 months compared to FOLFOX in combination with Avastin for 6 months, followed by additional 6 months of Avastin. There was a great hope that this anti-VEGF therapy would further decrease tumor recurrence. Read the rest of this entry »

When Avastin® (bevacizumab) was added to standard chemotherapy after surgery, it didn’t reduce the risk that early stage colon cancer would return, according to a press release this morning from Genentech.

NSABP C-08 randomly assigned patients with stage II or III colon cancer to FOLFOX chemotherapy with or without additional Avastin.  During the Phase III clinical trial, all patients received FOLFOX (oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and infused 5-FU) every two weeks for six months.  Half also got Avastin with each treatment plus an additional six months of Avastin only.

The study’s primary objective was disease-free survival, defined as lack of recurrence, another new cancer, or death for any reason.  According to Genentech, adding Avastin to chemotherapy didn’t do any better job of meeting this goal than chemotherapy alone.

Information from the trial will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting at the beginning of June.

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