The addition of bevacizumab to chemotherapy increases survival of patients with advanced colorectal cancer while preserving quality of life for longer according to new data presented at the seventh World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer.

The data are leading experts to conclude that the monoclonal antibody directed against vascular endothelial growth factor, can be incorporated into many different chemotherapy regimens commonly used to treat advanced-stage disease.

"The results from these studies are extremely positive and they reflect my own personal experience of treating people with Avastin," commented Fairooz Kabbinavar, MD, study investigator and Associate Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, USA. "Avastin helps to preserve a patient's quality of life for longer because it is not the same as chemotherapy, and does not add to the typical burden of chemotherapy-related side effects. Avastin is a valuable treatment option that maximizes the benefit we can offer to patients."

To date, bevacizumab has shown benefits for colorectal, lung, and breast cancer; it is the only anti-angiogenesis agent that has reported an actual prolongation of survival against any of these disease types.

Two studies investigating the drug in treatment of colorectal cancer were evaluated for the secondary endpoint of quality of life.

In the Phase III study, 813 patients with previously untreated colorectal cancer were randomized to irinotecan/5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (IFL) with either placebo or bevacizumab. In a Phase II study, 209 similar patients were randomized to the chemotherapy regimen 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin with either placebo or bevacizumab.

In the phase III study, addition of bevacizumab resulted in a significant improvement in overall survival and progression-free survival, with no significant difference in time to deterioration in quality of life with bevacizumab and chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone.

The results of the Phase II study showed that patients receiving bevacizumab in addition to 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin had a significant increase in progression-free survival, as well as a statistically significant longer time to deterioration in quality of life as measured by FACT-C* total score (p=0.0159) and TOI score* (p=0.0477).