FLEX: Erbitux Boosts Survival Five Weeks

Caucasian squamous cell patients treated with Erbitux reported a median overall survival of 10.2 months compared to a median survival of 8.9 months for similar patients treated with chemotherapy alone. That's a survival benefit of five and half weeks in favor of Erbitux.

For Caucasian patients with adenocarcinoma, another large lung cancer subtype, Erbitux survival was 12 months compared to 10.2 months for those patients not treated with the drug.

These patients are most like the patients treated in Avastin's pivotal lung cancer trial, Ronwinsky said, in fact, many had more advanced disease, which tells him that Erbitux can be competitive against Avastin.

Researchers from the FLEX study also found what they describe as a "remarkable difference" in overall survival between Asian and Caucasian patients.

While faring better than the entire study population, Asian lung cancer patients treated with Erbitux reported median overall survival of 17.6 months compared to 20.4 months for those Asian patients treated with chemotherapy alone.

This result is confounding because it was generally believed that drugs targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor of cancer cells, which Erbitux does, work better in Asian patients. For instance, Tarceva, another EFGR inhibiting drug marketed by OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP Quote), is more effective in some Asians than Caucasians.

For Caucasians in the FLEX study, Erbitux patients reported a median overall survival of 10.5 months compared to a median overall survival of 9.1 months for patients treated with chemo alone.