NSABP C-08 was the first study to report results on the use of bevacizumab as an adjuvant treatment. Bevacizumab targets the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor, a key driver of tumor angiogenesis – an essential process in the development and maintenance of blood vessels which is required for a tumor to grow and to spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body.
The results of the NSABP C-08 trial have found that adding bevacizumab to standard adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve disease-free survival (the time that patients are free of tumor recurrence) in early-stage colon cancer
The current study enrolled 2,710 patients who were randomized to receive six months of standard adjuvant chemotherapy or six months of adjuvant chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab plus an additional six months of bevacizumab after the chemotherapy had ended.
All patients in the study had stage II or stage III disease and first had surgery to remove their tumors. After a median follow-up of three years, the investigators found that 77.4 percent of patients in the experimental group (bevacizumab) were alive and free of disease, compared with 75.5 percent of patients in the control group, a difference that was not statistically significant. There were no unexpected side effects in either arm and the toxicities from bevacizumab were well tolerated.
“One interesting effect was that during the year that patients were receiving bevacizumab we saw a benefit in disease-free survival (DFS) that subsequently diminished when follow-up was completed,” said Norman Wolmark, MD, chairman of the Department of Human Oncology at Allegheny General Hospital and the study’s lead author. Patients receiving bevacizumab treatment had a 40 percent lower risk of cancer returning, however, this initial improvement over chemotherapy alone gradually diminished over time.
Commenting on the trial, Walmark continued “Our overall conclusion is that bevacizumab was not effective as an adjuvant treatment for early-stage colon cancer, but the transient benefit we saw in patients who received bevacizumab illustrates that we have more to learn about how this reagent works, and we need to design more clinical trials to determine how it can be used most effectively.”
No new safety signals for bevacizumab were observed in the study and careful review of the data did not provide evidence that cancer returns faster or more aggressively after bevacizumab therapy was stopped.
“These results are encouraging and suggest that Avastin may have an important role in early cancer treatment. We are committed to the ongoing program of Avastin in early-stage cancers and believe that these results could help us optimize the use of Avastin for the benefit of patients,’’ noted William M. Burns, CEO of the pharmaceutical division of Roche, a leader in research-focused healthcare.
Study Results
The NSABP C-08, a two-arm randomized prospective multi-center Phase III study evaluated the use of bevacizumab plus chemotherapy (mFolfox6 + bevacizumab/mFF6+B) for the treatment of Stage II or III adenocarcinoma immediately following surgery (adjuvant therapy) compared to chemotherapy alone (mFolfox6/mFF6). The study showed the addition of one year of bevacizumab to chemotherapy did not result in a statistically significant improvement in overall disease-free survival (DFS). However, during the year of bevacizumab treatment there was an early and significant improvement in disease-free survival that diminished over the course of the study.
Disease-Free Survival was measured from the date of randomization to the date of any type of cancer recurrence or death from any cause. Patients enrolled in the study were randomized after surgery to receive either FOLFOX chemotherapy alone for six months or FOLFOX in combination with bevacizumab (intravenously every two weeks) for six months, followed by an additional six months of bevacizumab monotherapy. Patients continue to be followed for overall survival, a secondary endpoint of the study.
Overall in the study, there was 12 percent improvement in DFS that was not statistically significant (hazard ratio=0.89, p=0.15; risk reduction 11 percent). In the first year of the study, while patients received bevacizumab in addition to a standard six-months of adjuvant chemotherapy, disease-free survival improved by 67 percent compared to chemotherapy alone (hazard ratio=0.60; risk reduction of 40 percent). However, this early improvement in DFS began to diminish after the first year, and overall DFS was not improved.
NSABP C-08 included a comprehensive safety analysis that showed no new or unexpected safety events related to bevacizumab in the study. Specific severe (Grade 3 or greater) adverse events (AEs) that occurred with increased frequency in patients who received bevacizumab versus chemotherapy alone were: hypertension (12 percent vs. 1.8 percent), pain (11.1 percent vs. 6.3 percent), proteinuria (2.7 percent vs. 0.8 percent) and wound-healing complications (1.7 percent vs. 0.3 percent).
Other trials and standard of care
Bevacizumab is currently approved for metastatic colorectal, breast, and lung cancers and other trials are ongoing to evaluate it as an adjuvant treatment for a variety of solid tumors. Therapy with bevacizumab is the standard of care in advanced colon cancer treatment which will be further confirmed throughout the ASCO meeting with 53 efficacy and safety data presentations including more than 6,000 patients.
In addition to early-stage colon cancer, bevacizumab is being studied as an adjuvant treatment in other early-stage diseases: HER2-negative breast cancer, HER2-positive breast cancer, and non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer. Approximately 26,000 people are expected to participate in bevacizumab based adjuvant studies, making the bevacizumab development program one of the most comprehensive undertakings in cancer research since chemotherapy. The Avastin (bevacizumab) development program includes more than 450 clinical trials worldwide in approximately 30 different tumor types.
More than 500,000 patients have been treated with bevacizumab so far. A comprehensive clinical program with more than 450 clinical trials is investigating the use of bevacizumab in various tumor types (including colorectal, breast, lung, brain, gastric, ovarian, prostate and others) and different settings (advanced or early stage disease).
Mode of Action
The precise mode of action of bevacizumab helps control tumor growth and metastases with only a limited impact on side effects of chemotherapy.The drug has proven survival benefits across multiple tumor types and is approved in Europe for the treatment of the advanced stages of four common types of cancer, including colorectal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer and kidney cancer. These types of cancer collectively cause nearly 3 million deaths each year in the US alone.
In the US, bevacizumab was the first anti-angiogenesis therapy approved by the FDA and is now approved for the treatment of four tumor types: breast, colorectal, glioblastoma, and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
For further information:
- American Society for Clinical Oncology
- Wolmark, G. Yothers, M. J. O’Connell, S. Sharif, J. N. et al. A phase III trial comparing mFolfox6 to mFolfox6 + bevacizumab in stage II or III carcinoma of the colon: Results of NSABP Protocol C-08 N. Plenary presentation, Sunday, May 31, 3:15 PM EDT, Level 2, Wes
t Hall D2. Plenary Session, Lead Author: Norman Wolmark, MD, Allegheny General Hospital Pittsburgh, Pa. Abstract No# LBA4
Other, related, abstracts
- A quantitative multigene RT-PCR assay for prediction of recurrence in stage II colon cancer: Selection of the genes in four large studies and results of the independent, prospectively designed QUASAR validation study.
Meeting:2009 ASCO Annual Meeting Abstract No: 4000 First Author: D. KerrCategory:Gastrointestinal (Colorectal) Cancer - Colorectal Cancer (including liver metastases) - Microsatellite instability (MSI) in stage II and III colon cancer treated with 5FU-LV or 5FU-LV and irinotecan (PETACC 3-EORTC 40993-SAKK 60/00 trial).
Meeting:2009 ASCO Annual Meeting Abstract No: 4001 First Author: S. TejparCategory:Gastrointestinal (Colorectal) Cancer - Colorectal Cancer (including liver metastases) - Stage-specific prognostic value of molecular markers in colon cancer: Results of the translational study on the PETACC 3-EORTC 40993-SAKK 60-00 trial.
Meeting:2009 ASCO Annual Meeting Abstract No: 4002 First Author: A. D. RothCategory:Gastrointestinal (Colorectal) Cancer - Colorectal Cancer (including liver metastases)
Folfox Background information:
Colorectal Cancer:
- Medical Oncology (at Boomja.com)
- Goldberg RM, Therapy for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer The Oncologist Vol. 11, No. 9, 981-987, October 2006
Pharmaceutical information:
- EMEA - European Public Assessment Report (bevacizumab)
- Highlights of Prescribing Information USA (bevacizumab)
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