Older patients benefit from XELOX after surgery

Update from 2010 GI Cancers Symposium

Colon cancer patients over 70 actually had a greater reduction in disease-free survival than did younger ones with a new regimen of Xeloda® and oxaliplatin compared to older IV 5-FU treatments according to a new analysis reported at the GI Cancers Symposium in Orlando.

With the bolus IV 5-FU and leucovorin regimens, stage III colon cancer patients over 70 had about a 60 percent chance of being alive and free from cancer three years after surgery. With a combination of Xeloda (capecitabine) and oxaliplatin in a treatment called XELOX, their three-year disease-free survival was 66 percent.

Younger patients had about a 3 percent absolute improvement between the two treatments from 69 percent to 72 percent. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on January 25th, 2010
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 1 Comment »
Tags: capecitabine, elderly, oxaliplatin, recurrence risk, Xeloda

XELOX Beats 5-FU with Fewer Recurrences

A combination of Xeloda and Eloxatin (XELOX) was better than standard 5-FU and leucovorin chemotherapy in reducing recurrences of stage III colon cancer after surgery.  Significantly more patients receiving XELOX were alive without cancer three years after treatment began.

Roche announced results of a Phase III clinical trial that compared XELOX chemotherapy to bolus 5-FU and leucovorin.  The trial, nicknamed XELOXA (NO16968), enrolled almost 1,900 patients in 29 countries.

Its primary goal was to see if combining the oral drug Xeloda® (capecitabine) with Eloxatin® (oxaliplatin) could improve disease-free survival for stage III colon cancer patients. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on July 23rd, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 2 Comments »
Tags: 5-FU, capecitabine, clinical trial results, Eloxatin, oxaliplatin, Xeloda

Comparing 5-FU or Capecitabine Combined with Oxaliplatin

Infusional 5-FU or oral Xeloda® (capecitabine) are two different drugs that can be combined with Eloxatin® (oxaliplatin) to treat colorectal cancer that has spread.  Six different randomized clinical trials have compared the two approaches.

Researchers analyzed a pool of all six trials to find out if one approach is better than the other. While they found that there are different side effects, the time until cancer gets worse (progression-free survival) and overall survival time are the same.

The percentage of patients who got infusional 5-FU  and had their tumors shrink (response rate) was greater than those who had shrinkage with capecitabine .  However, this did not translate into better progression-free interval or longer survival time. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on December 9th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: 5-FU, capecitabine, Xeloda