The phase III study, conducted by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), involved 878 patients who were randomized to standard chemotherapy – paclitaxel and carboplatin – with and without bevacizumab (Avastin). Patients who received bevacizumab lived 2.5 months longer and had a 24.8% shrinkage in their tumors versus 9.4% shrinkage in patients who had chemotherapy alone.
“These exciting results represent a major step forward in the treatment of advanced lung cancer,” said Dr Afshin Dowlati, co-chair of the ECOG trial, oncologist at the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals of Cleveland and assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
“With the use of bevacizumab, we have for the first time surpassed a one-year survival rate in over 50% of patients with metastatic cancer. Fifteen years ago the survival rate was only four months for patients with this diagnosis. We believe this data has the potential to change the standard of care for this disease.”