Bevacizumab with Chemo Improves Survival in Ovarian Cancer with Poor Prognosis

(July 1, 2015) When bevacizumab was added to standard chemotherapy, ovarian cancer patients with a poor prognosis had an overall survival benefit, according to the ICON7 study published online this week in journal The Lancet Oncology.

The study enrolled 1,528 women with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer, high-risk early-stage disease or more advanced disease. The patients were randomly assigned to arm A with standard chemotherapy (carboplatin and paclitaxel) and arm B with standard chemotherapy plus bevacizumab.

The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), and the secondary endpoint was restricted mean survival time (RMST).

After a median follow-up of 48.9 months, there was no difference in PFS between the treatment arms. Moreover, RMST was no different in the overall study population with 44.6 months. However, in patients with poor prognosis disease, a significant difference in RMST was found where arm A had 34.5 months and arm B had 39.9 months.

The findings suggest that standard chemotherapy with bevacizumab shows benefit in patients with poor prognosis, although no improvement in the overall study population. This provides useful information about the optimal use of bevacizumab in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Read more here, and read the abstract here.