Two targeted anticancer drugs used together after first-line chemotherapy for advanced stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) improve progression-free survival (PFS), the results of a large, prospective study show.
Median PFS was 4.8 months for patients treated with bevacizumab plus erlotinib versus 3.7 months for those treated with bevacizumab plus placebo (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.71). There was no overall survival (OS) advantage, however, and the two-drug combination was associated with more adverse events than bevacizumab alone, say the study investigators.
