Chemotherapy-free, but not quite free chemotherapy
Mené sur 97 patientes atteintes d'un cancer de l'ovaire récidivant et sensible aux sels de platine, cet essai de phase II évalue l'efficacité, du point de vue de la survie sans progression, et la toxicité de l'ajout du bévacizumab au niraparib (durée médiane de suivi : 16,9 mois)
Seasoned health-care providers caring for women with epithelial ovarian cancer will not-so-fondly recall the days when upfront clinical trials took several years to complete and consisted of thousands of patients randomly assigned to different combinations or sequences of a handful of cytotoxic drugs with generally disappointing findings. The fact that the vast majority of women will eventually relapse after treatment with primary chemotherapy, and that most of these cases will be recognised at least 6 months after completion of primary chemotherapy, is well established. This platinum-sensitive group of patients generally has a relatively good prognosis following relapse and has traditionally been treated with carboplatin in combination with another cytotoxic drug, such as paclitaxel, gemcitabine, or liposomal pegylated doxorubicin. After that, the available options historically consisted of the same short list of cytotoxic drugs, used and reused with diminishing results. Conceptually, this period 15–20 years ago was a much simpler time, with long intervals between the emergence of any practice-changing data. One common phrase circulating at oncology conferences and congresses was that by the time the study had been completed and reported, researchers would have already moved on to more promising options. Yet, fortunately, times are changing and research in this area of oncology is now progressing.
The Lancet Oncology , commentaire, 2018