Single-center phase 2 study of irinotecan and TAS-102 plus bevacizumab as later-line therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer

A phase 2 trial at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (Beijing, China) evaluated the combination of irinotecan, TAS-102, and bevacizumab for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in patients who were refractory to standard first-line and second-line therapy. Among 35 enrolled patients, 31 were evaluable for efficacy. Objective response rate and disease control rate were 25.8% (8/31) and 93.5% (29/31), respectively. Median progression-free survival was 9.2 months (95% CI 6.3-12.1) whereas median overall survival was not reached with a 1-year OS rate of 73.5%. The most common grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events were neutropenia (34.3% of patients), anemia (17.1%), and thrombocytopenia (8.6%). The authors conclude that the combination of irinotecan, TAS-102, and bevacizumab had promising efficacy and tolerable toxicity among mCRC patients who were refractory to standard first-line and second-line treatments.