Vatalanib in advanced colorectal cancer: two studies with identical results.

摘要

Because of biologic variability, limited impact of treatment, chance, and sometimes bias, the results of clinical trials in oncology are often divergent and occasionally fully contradictory. The two studies in advanced colorectal cancer on the antiangiogenic drug vatalanib (PTK/ZK) in first-1 and second-line treatment,2 called Colorectal Oral Novel Therapy for the Inhibition of Angiogenesis and Retarding of Metastases (CONFIRM) 1 and 2, respectively, are a striking exception because their results are truly identical.The studies showed the same hazard ratio (HR) for progression-free survival (PFS; 0.88 and 0.83) and for overall survival (OS; 1.08 and 1.00), the same increased efficacy in the subgroup with high lactate dehydrogenase (HR for PFS = 0.67 and 0.63) and the same lack of effect on the rate of objective responses (data not shown).