Dr. Grothey on Bevacizumab Beyond Progression in mCRC

Axel Grothey, MD, Professor of Oncology and Consultant in the Division of Medical Oncology in the Department of Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, discusses the effectiveness of bevacizumab beyond disease progression in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Several trials have demonstrated that continuing treatment with bevacizumab, a VEGF inhibitor, improves survival in the first- and second-line for patients with mCRC. This agent has the greatest affect when using a different chemotherapy in the second-line than was used in the first. Administering bevacizumab beyond progression establishes a new biologic principle, Grothey believes, and in January 2013 the FDA approved the agent following progression for patients with mCRC.

In an observational cohort study labeled ARIES, subgroups were analyzed to assess the affect of using bevacizumab beyond progression in the clinical setting, Grothey explains. This analysis was due in part to an observation made in the randomized phase III ML18147 trial, which suggested that men and women responded differently to bevacizumab continuation. Overall, the study found that bevacizumab beyond progression was just as effective in men as it was in women.