Avastin Helps Patients Maintain Chemotherapy Effectiveness

It doesn’t hurt to stop XELOX chemotherapy combined with Avastin after six treatments and continue with Avastin alone until colorectal cancer gets worse, according to a study reported at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

Many patients have to stop oxaliplatin chemotherapy with before getting its maximum effectiveness because of peripheral neuropathy — tingling, numbness, or pain in their hands and feet.  Xeloda® (capecitabine) can cause painful skin redness and cracking on the hands and feet or hand-foot syndrome, which can also affect time on chemotherapy.

Giving only six treatments of Avastin® (bevacizumab) plus XELOX chemotherapy and then stopping XELOX and using only Avastin until cancer progressed was as effective for the initial or first-line treatment of colorectal cancer as continuing XELOX.  XELOX combines Xeloda® (capecitabine) with oxaliplatin.

In addition, the strategy reduced both severe peripheral neuropathy and hand-foot syndrome.

Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on June 21st, 2010
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: Avastin, bevacizumab, chemotherapy, metastatic colorectal cancer, Xeloda

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

Clinical Trials with Novel Compounds from Germany

I wanted to share with you another novel clinical trial using a compound targeting two receptors on tumor cells. Both receptors we know very well: one is HER2, the target for Herceptin, and the other one is EGFR, the target for Erbitux.

One compound targeting both receptors is on the market known as Tykerb® (lapatinib) which is approved for breast cancer patients in combination with Xeloda® (capecitabine). Continue reading…

Posted by Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD on July 28th, 2009
Posted in: From the Desk of Dr. Lenz | No Comments »
Tags: Knowing About Clinical Trials, lapatinib, Understanding Genetics, 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