Bowel Cancer Drug Trial Yields Promising Results
The result of a new study may offer revitalised hope for patients with bowel cancer at an advanced stage. In recent research, it was observed that, when Avastin was taken in tandem with chemotherapy, cancers that had progressed to the liver were cleared in over 10 per cent of those taking part.
Avastin is a drug that operates by launching an attack on the blood vessels though which cancers gain nourishment. Consequently, the tumours are deprived of nutrients and diminish in size.
When previously trialled, it was suggested that the Avastin/chemotherapy combination was capable of adding an extra five months to the life expectancy of patients with advanced-stage cancer of the bowel. However, availability on the National Health Service (NHS) was denied by a ruling from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The regulatory body deemed that Avastin was “not cost-effective”, given its per-patient cost of £18,000.
Speaking recently, Bowel Cancer UK’s Ian Beaumont said of Avastin, and the wider picture:
"In the past metastatic [advanced] patients have been looking at a bleak prognosis. To get to the point where their cancers could be curable is a really significant step.
This confirms our belief that we are moving towards a new era in which these tumours, which were previously inoperable, can be operated on and cleared. We always believed these drugs were better than Nice claimed.
He concluded: “The data Nice based their decision on was way out of date, and this shows the benefits are far greater than those highlighted in the Nice assessment."
Approximately 35,000 people in Britain are newly-diagnosed with bowel cancer each year.
The results of the new trial were highlighted at the recent European Cancer Conference (ECCO), which was held in Barcelona, Spain. It involved 1,965 patients – all with bower cancer at an advanced level, and who could not be operated on.
All were given a combination of Avastin and fluropyrimidine-based chemotherapy. 704 of those taking part had cases where the cancer had progressed to their livers. Of these, 102 were subsequently able to be operated on. 11 and a half per cent of this group subsequently saw the tumours cleared from their livers. While the cancer was not eradicated entirely, the possibility of this is much greater when it is restricted to affecting the colon only.
According to the Royal Marsden Hospital’s Professor David Cunningham: "In the past we would be forced to tell patients with metastatic bowel cancer that has spread extensively there was nothing we could do but extend their lives as much as possible.
"Now with newer combinations of drugs we are able to offer some hope that we can beat the disease even if patients present in an advanced state."
Source – Pharmaceutical International’s Research and Development Analyst
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