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This talks about the combination of Avastin and CPT-11 for recurrent glioblastoma. They compared patients who took this combination with patients who did all other available treatments and this group did better by 7 months (70%). Previous similiar studies showed a similiar benefit but when avastin alone was tested with avastin + CPT-11, the results were pretty close - the avastin + CPT-11 group did a little better but had more side effects. Not clear which is best yet.
Oncol Lett. 2012 Nov;4(5):1114-1118. Epub 2012 Aug 14.
Effectiveness of the bevacizumab-irinotecan regimen in the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme: Comparison with other second-line treatments without this regimen.
Ruiz-Sánchez D, Calero MA, Sastre-Heres AJ, García MT, Hernandez MA, Martinez FM, Peña-Díaz J.
Hospital Pharmacy Department, Central University Hospital of Asturias, Oviedo, Asturias 33006;
Abstract
A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyse the effectiveness of bevacizumab and irinotecan (BVZ/CPT-11) as a second-line treatment in patients with primary glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in comparison with a control group that were not administered BVZ/CPT-11 at the first recurrence. The difference in overall survival (OS) between the two groups was used as a predictor of effectiveness. OS was calculated according to prognostic factors and gender. A total of 28 and 32 patients were enrolled in the BVZ/CPT-11 cohort and control group, respectively. The median OS was 17.94 months (95% CI, 14.91-20.96) in the BVZ/CPT-11 treatment cohort and 10.97 months (95% CI, 7.65-14.30) in the control cohort. The results obtained on the effectiveness of BVZ/CPT-11 treatment in patients with primary GBM are consistent with data from previous studies. No significant differences were identified in OS based on prognostic factors; therefore, the latter cannot be used to select patients who would incur the greatest benefits from BVZ/CPT-11 treatment.
PMID: 23162662 [PubMed]