Maria Carmela Piccirillo, MD, Clinical Trial Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, IRCCS, Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy, discusses the safety profile of bevacizumab (Avastin) plus erlotinib (Tarceva) in 

-mutated advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

During the 2021 ESMO Congress, the results of the final analysis of the phase 3 BEVERLY trial (NCT02633189) were presented. The findings demonstrated that the addition of bevacizumab to frontline erlotinib significantly prolonged progression-free survival and increased response rates compared with erlotinib alone in Italian patients with 

Regarding safety, the combination did not modify quality of life or produce unexpected safety signals vs the single-agent regimen. Some bevacizumab-related toxicities, including any-grade and severe hypertension and all-grade proteinuria, were observed more frequently in the combination arm vs the monotherapy arm, Piccirillo says.

Additionally, grade 3 or higher skin rash was observed more frequently with bevacizumab/erlotinib vs erlotinib alone. The increased incidence of this erlotinib-related toxicity is likely because patients receiving bevacizumab/erlotinib had prolonged responses vs erlotinib alone, which meant they received erlotinib for a longer period of time, Piccirillo explains.

Notably, one toxic death from intracranial hemorrhage was reported with bevacizumab/erlotinib, Piccirillo concludes.

Videos

Maria Carmela Piccirillo, MD, discusses the safety profile of bevacizumab plus erlotinib in EGFR-mutated advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer.   



Maria Carmela Piccirillo, MD

Articles

Dr. Piccirillo on the Safety Profile of Bevacizumab Plus Erlotinib in EGFR+ Nonsquamous NSCLC