New Combo Treatment Extends Kidney Cancer Survival

FRIDAY, Dec 21 (HealthDay News) -- A combination treatment with twodrugs, Avastin (bevacizumab) plus interferon, extends the life of patientswith kidney cancer, European researchers report.
"Based on the result of earlier trials, there is already considerableenthusiasm to use bevacizumab as a new drug for treating kidney cancerpatients," noted Dr. Mayer Fishman, an assistant professor in thedepartment of interdisciplinary oncology at the Moffitt Cancer Center ofthe University of South Florida in Tampa. He was not involved in thestudy.
Publication of large trials such as this can be expected to support themore widespread use of new drugs such as bevacizumab for kidney cancertherapy, Fishman said.
The study was funded by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., the maker ofAvastin. It is published in the Dec. 22/29 issue of The Lancet.
In a phase III trial, Dr. Bernard Escudier from the Institute GustaveRoussy in Villejuif, France, and colleagues randomly assigned 649 patientswith kidney cancer to receive Avastin and interferon or interferon plus aplacebo.
Among those receiving combined therapy, 114 died compared with 137 ofthose receiving interferon alone. Moreover, patients taking Avastin plusinterferon survived without any signs of disease progression for anaverage of 10.2 months. That's almost double the 5.4-month averageprogression-free survival for those on interferon alone.
"This treatment [bevacizumab plus interferon] is clearly comparablewith the most active treatment, and with a very good safety profile, willprovide new options for renal cancer patients," Escudier's groupconcluded.
As more and more targeted drugs are developed, and as more combinationsare possible, and as immune treatments become more sophisticated,"optimism is building that we will see more and more substantial impactson kidney cancer treatment," Fishman said.
"This can result in better survival and better quality of life forsurvivors. On the other hand, with more and more drugs and combinations,it may become harder to see the impact of an individual drug," headded.
Another expert lauded the paper.
"This article provides another outstanding example of how a greaterunderstanding of the biology of kidney cancer can lead to successfultreatments that delay tumor growth," said Dr. James Brugarolas, anassistant professor in the division of oncology at the SimmonsComprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Texas SouthwesternMedical Center at Dallas.
"An important question that remains to be addressed is whetherbevacizumab alone would offer similar benefit with respect to slowing downtumor progression as the bevacizumab/interferon combination, with perhapsless toxicity," Brugarolas said.