Dr. Pujade-Lauraine on the AURELIA Bevacizumab Trial

Eric Pujade-Lauraine, MD, PhD, professor, Université de Paris Descartes, France and head of the Group d’Investigateurs Nationaux pour l'Etude des Cancers Ovariens (GINECO), discusses the AURELIA trial that evaluated bevacizumab (Avastin) plus standard chemotherapy for women with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

The phase III AURELIA trial randomized 361 women to receive either standard chemotherapy or the combination of bevacizumab, an angiogenesis inhibitor, and standard chemotherapy, which included pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, topotecan, or weekly paclitaxel.

The trial found that the addition of bevacizumab to standard chemotherapy nearly doubled the median progression-free survival from 3.4 months to 6.7 months. The addition of bevacizumab resulted in more grade 2 adverse events but the two arms were equivalent for grade 3 and higher events.

Although the overall survival data from the AURELIA trial has not yet matured it is the first randomized study to investigate bevacizumab in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Pujade-Lauraine believes that the results of the trial will likely be practice changing.

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