Phase 2 trial found adding Bevacizumab to different chemotherapy drugs led to more patients’ tumours shrinking, which has helped to change routine UK treatment.
Phase 2 trial found adding Bevacizumab to different chemotherapy drugs led to more patients’ tumours shrinking, which has helped to change routine UK treatment.
Children who develop neuroblastomas, a rare form of cancer which develops in nerve cells, may benefit from receiving certain anti-tumour drugs as well as chemotherapy, a new trial has found.
The results of the BEACON trial conducted by the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Birmingham found that combining anti-angiogenic drugs, which block tumours from forming blood vessels, alongside various chemotherapy drugs led to more young people seeing their tumours shrinking, from 18% in the control group to 26% among those on Bevacizumab.
The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The trial saw 160 young people aged 1-21, from 43 hospitals in 11 European countries, randomised with half receiving the anti-angiogenic drug called Bevacizumab on top of conventional therapy. The group who received Bevacizumab had an increase in the likelihood of responding to treatment, from 18% among those who only had the established therapy to 26% for those with the additional drug. Patients who received Bevacizumab additionally had better one year progression-free survival rates.
Read More: University of Birmingham
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