A Dutch study published in the Feb. 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that adding cetuximab (Erbitux) to drugs already fighting cancer actually has negative results for patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

 

Erbitux is marketed in the US by Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and New York-based Bristol Myers-Squibb Co., and overseas by Germany’s Merck KGaA.

 

For the study, Dr. Cornelis J.A. Punt, a professor of medical oncology at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands and colleagues added Erbitux to standard treatment for colorectal cancer which includes Genentech Inc.’s Avastin and two chemotherapy drugs. The study involved 755 patients who had their cancers spread to other parts of their body. They were followed for a period of two years.

 

Avastin and Erbitux are designed to attack tumors, but in different ways, which made researchers believe that a combination of the two of them would do a better job of keeping the tumors from growing.

 

But the results showed the opposite, as patients in the Erbitux groups experienced faster tumor progression than those in the Avastin group (9.4 months compared to 10.7 months). Moreover, those taking Erbitux also experienced more severe skin reactions and lower quality of life. The overall survival in both groups was about the same.

 

“The lesson is that there may be negative interactions between those inhibitors that may be detrimental to those patients, even when animal studies show benefits,” said Dr. Punt.

 

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, the disease caused about 50,000 deaths in 2008. The disease typically begins as a non-cancerous growth called a polyp. Early screening can find these polyps before they become cancer. Studies have shown that screening for colorectal cancers could reduce the death rate from the disease by catching it in the earliest stages.