Al's Comment:
This makes sense. When the AVAglio trial was reported, it showed that Avastin improved progression free survival but not overall survial. This did not make sense to me, as I interact with a LOT of brain tumor patients and we track them in our brain tumor virtual trial registry. I always felt that Avastin does increase overall survival.
Looking closer, it appears that the trial was designed to allow patients in the control group who had progression to take Avastin after the progression. So in effect, they were comparing patients who took Avastin to patients who took Avastin and there was no difference. Duh.
This analysis seperates out those who did not have Avastin or other treatments after reccurence and it showed that there is an overall survival advantage for Avastin.
Posted on: 04/05/2016
Neuro Oncol. 2016 Mar 22. pii: now046. [Epub ahead of print]
Upfront bevacizumab may extend survival for glioblastoma patients who do not receive second-line therapy: an exploratory analysis of AVAglio.
Chinot OL1, Nishikawa R1, Mason W1, Henriksson R1, Saran F1, Cloughesy T1, Garcia J1, Revil C1, Abrey L1, Wick W1.
Author information:
1 Aix-Marseille University, AP-HM, Service de Neuro-Oncologie, CHU Timone, Marseille, France (O.L.C.); Saitama Medical University, Saitama, Japan (R.N.); Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Canada (W.M.); Regional Cancer Center Stockholm Gotland, Stockholm, Sweden (R.H.); Department of Radiation Sciences and Oncology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden (R.H.); The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Surrey, UK (F.S.); University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA (T.C.); F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Basel, Switzerland (J.G., C.R., L.A.); University Medical Center, Heidelberg, Germany (W.W.).
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
In this post-hoc, exploratory analysis, we examined outcomes for patients enrolled in the AVAglio trial of front-line bevacizumab or placebo plus radiotherapy/temozolomide who received only a single line of therapy.
METHODS:
Patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma received protocol-defined treatment until progressive disease (PD). Co-primary endpoints were investigator-assessed progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). After confirmed PD, patients were treated at the investigators' discretion. PFS/OS were assessed in patients with a PFS event who did not receive post-PD therapy (Group 1) and patients with a PFS event who received post-PD therapy plus patients who did not have a PFS event at the final data cutoff (Group 2). Kaplan-Meier methodology was used. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model for known prognostic variables was generated.
RESULTS:
Baseline characteristics were balanced. In patients with a PFS event who did not receive post-PD therapy (Group 1; n = 225 [24.4% of the intent-to-treat population]), the addition of bevacizumab to radiotherapy/temozolomide resulted in a 3.6-month extension in both median PFS (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.62, P = .0016) and median OS (HR: 0.67, P = .0102). Multivariate analyses supported this OS benefit (HR: 0.66). In the remaining patients (Group 2; n = 696), a 5.2-month PFS extension was observed in bevacizumab-treated patients (HR: 0.61, P < .0001); OS was comparable between the treatment arms (HR: 0.88, P = .1502). No significant differences in safety were observed between the 2 groups.
CONCLUSION:
This exploratory analysis suggests that the addition of bevacizumab to standard glioblastoma treatment prolongs PFS and OS for patients with PD who receive only one line of therapy.
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