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Experimental Chemo Combo for Colon Cancer Disappoints
Posted 3 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, April 3 – Adding the drug cetuximab (brand name Erbitux) to standard chemotherapy after surgery for stage 3 colon cancer did not improve disease-free survival in patients, a new study concludes. Patients with stage 3 colon cancer who undergo surgery have a 50 percent chance of cure, and clinical trials have found that chemotherapy with the drugs leucovorin, fluorouracil and oxaliplatin (a regimen known as FOLFOX) after surgery can cut the odds for colon cancer's return. Staging refers to the severity of cancer. A stage 3 cancer has spread nearby, while a stage 4 cancer has spread to another organ. This study of almost 2,700 patients investigated the addition of cetuximab to the FOLFOX regimen and found that it provided no extra benefit. Three-year disease-free survival for patients who received the FOLFOX regimen alone ranged from 67 percent to 75 percent, compared with 65 ... Read more
Related support groups: Colorectal Cancer, Erbitux, Cetuximab
Erbitux Approval Expanded to Include Head and Neck Cancer
Posted 7 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Nov. 7 – U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of Erbitux (cetuximab) has been expanded to include late-stage (metastatic) head and neck cancer, the agency announced Monday. The drug was first approved in 2004 to treat colon cancer, and was later sanctioned to treat non-metastatic cases of head and neck cancer. Clinical testing for the newly approved use involved 442 people with metastatic or recurring head and neck cancer. People who received Erbitux and chemotherapy lived an average of 10.1 months, compared with 7.4 months among those who received chemotherapy alone. Head and neck cancer accounts for up to 5 percent of all cancer cases in the United States, and is most common in men and in people older than age 50, the FDA said, citing statistics from the U.S. National Cancer Institute. The most common side effects reported for Erbitux include rash, itching, nail ... Read more
Related support groups: Erbitux, Head and Neck Cancer
FDA Approves Erbitux to Treat Late-stage Head and Neck Cancer
Posted 7 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
SILVER SPRING, Md., Nov. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Erbitux (cetuximab) for use with chemotherapy to treat patients with late-stage (metastatic) head and neck cancer. Combined with chemotherapy, Erbitux extended the lives of those receiving the treatment combination compared with those receiving chemotherapy alone. Erbitux already is FDA-approved for certain types of colon cancer, and has been approved since 2006 for treatment of non-metastatic head and neck cancer in combination with radiation therapy (first-line) or as a single agent (following standard treatment). According to the National Cancer Institute, head and neck cancers account for 3 percent to 5 percent of all cancers in the United States. These cancers typically develop in the nose, throat or mouth and they are more common in men and in people older than 50. ... Read more
Related support groups: Erbitux, Head and Neck Cancer, Cetuximab
Cancer Patients Should Ask Doctors to Use Simple Terms
Posted 28 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28 – Cancer patients are often faced with many difficult-to-understand treatment choices that can have serious side effects and even mean the difference between life and death. That's why it's crucial that patients insist doctors use plain language in explaining the options, advised Angela Fagerlin, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and a researcher at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. "People are making life and death decisions that may affect their survival and they need to know what they're getting themselves into. Cancer treatments and tests can be serious. Patients need to know what kind of side effects they might experience as a result of the treatment they undergo," Fagerlin said in a university news release. She and her colleagues outlined a number of tips to help patients get the information they need ... Read more
Related support groups: Cancer, Methotrexate, Provera, Breast Cancer, Lupron, Accutane, Depo-Provera, Prostate Cancer, Tamoxifen, Femara, Arimidex, Lupron Depot, Medroxyprogesterone, Claravis, Gleevec
Chemo for Late-Stage Cancer Patients May Be Unjustified
Posted 9 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, June 9 – Some patients with advanced cancer receive drugs that won't help them but could cause them harm, a U.S. study suggests. University of Chicago researchers analyzed medical and pharmaceutical claims from 1,041 patients with metastatic colon cancer who were treated between January 2007 and June 2010. Of those patients, about one in eight received chemotherapy treatments that weren't supported by evidence from clinical trials or by clinical practice guidelines. The researchers focused on three specific treatments. One had insufficient data to support its use, one had been shown to be ineffective, and one was not supported by data or a compelling rationale, according to the study. The treatment with insufficient data involved the use of Avastin (bevacizumab) after a patient's cancer had progressed despite treatment with a combination of the drug and chemotherapy. The ... Read more
Rash Due to Lung Cancer Drug May Be Linked to Better Survival
Posted 21 Dec 2010 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Dec. 20 – Lung cancer patients who develop a rash after treatment with the drug cetuximab (Erbitux) have better outcomes, according to a new study. German researchers compared hundreds of patients with non-small cell lung cancer who received chemotherapy plus cetuximab and hundreds of patients who received chemotherapy alone. About 70 percent of the patients who received the combination therapy developed an acne-like rash within the first three weeks of treatment. Compared to other patients, those who developed the rash lived longer (15 months vs. 8.8 months), had better progression-free survival (5.4 months vs. 4.3 months) and had a higher response rate (44.8 percent vs. 32 percent), according to the report by Dr. Ulrich Gatzemeier, from Hospital Grosshansdorf in Germany, and colleagues. The findings, published online Dec. 19 in The Lancet Oncology, suggest that the early ... Read more
Related support groups: Lung Cancer, Erbitux
Cetuximab Helps Treat Colorectal Cancer
Posted 1 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 25 – Adding the drug cetuximab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy can shrink tumors and boost the odds of successful surgery in colorectal cancer patients with inoperable metastatic liver lesions, new research suggests. Tumors spread to other parts of the body in more than half of patients with colorectal cancer. Most commonly, the cancer spreads to the liver. Removing the tumors in the liver can cure patients, but about 80 percent have inoperable disease and a poor prognosis when they see doctors, the researchers explain in the Nov. 24 online edition of The Lancet Oncology. Previous research suggests that neoadjuvant treatment with irinotecan- or oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy can make surgery more likely to succeed. The new study aimed to see if addition of the drug cetuximab, also known as Erbitux, would help patients even more. The study authors, Gunnar Folprecht, from ... Read more
Related support groups: Colorectal Cancer, Erbitux, Cetuximab
Erbitux May Help Some With Colorectal Cancer
Posted 1 Apr 2009 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, April 1 – 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 ... Read more
Related support groups: Colorectal Cancer, Erbitux
Colon Cancer Drug Won't Help Those With Certain Gene Mutation
Posted 22 Oct 2008 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 22 – A new study suggests that people with advanced colon cancer who have a particular gene mutation won't benefit from the medication cetuximab (Erbitux). While the drug can add months to the lives of people without a mutation in a gene called K-ras, those who have the mutation won't see any benefit from this additional therapy, reports the study, which is published in the Oct. 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "We believe that, in the context of pre-treated advanced bowel cancer, the K-ras mutation status of the cancer should be determined before using cetuximab, and cetuximab should only be given to patients with tumors that do not have the mutation," said study author Dr. Christos S. Karapetis, a senior consultant medical oncologist and director of clinical research in the department of medical oncology at Flinders Medical Centre in Australia. ... Read more
Related support groups: Colorectal Cancer, Erbitux
FDA Medwatch Alert: Erbitux (cetuximab)
Posted 14 Sep 2005 by Drugs.com
[Posted 09/14/2005] ImClone Systems Incorporated, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and the FDA notified healthcare professionals of changes to the WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS, ADVERSE REACTIONS, and DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION sections of the prescribing information for Erbitux, indicated for the treatment of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing metastatic colorectal carcinoma. The WARNINGS and DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION sections have been revised to notify healthcare providers about specific recommendations on observation periods following Erbitux infusion. In addition, the PRECAUTIONS and ADVERSE REACTIONS sections have been revised to discuss results seen in Erbitux clinical trials regarding an increased incidence of hypomagnesemia and recommendations for electrolyte monitoring. Read more
Related support groups: Erbitux
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Colorectal Cancer, Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Head and Neck Cancer