A multi-center randomized phase II clinical study of bevacizumab plus irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin (FOLFIRI) compared with FOLFIRI alone as second-line treatment for Chinese patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

Bevacizumab is an anti-VEGF human monoclonal antibody suitable for chemotherapy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). This study investigated the efficacy and safety of using bevacizumab plus irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin (FOLFIRI) as second-line chemotherapy option for patients with mCRC in China. Patients with mCRC, who had been previously treated with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy, but not bevacizumab, were randomly assigned to two groups to receive bevacizumab plus FOLFIRI (FOLFIRI-B) or FOLFIRI alone. In FOLFIRI-B group, patients were given 10 mg/kg bevacizumab plus FOLFIRI every 2 weeks. The primary endpoints were response rates and survival rates. Between June 2010 and May 2014, 65 patients were assigned to FOLFIRI-B group and 77 to FOLFIRI alone group. The median progression-free survivals were 8.5 months (95 % CI 5.8–10.5 months) for FOLFIRI-B and 5.1 months (95 % CI 2.7–9.8 months) for FOLFIRI alone; median overall survivals were 15.2 months (95 % CI 11.8–19.4 months) for FOLFIRI-B and 11.3 months (95 % CI 6.7–16.5 months) for FOLFIRI alone. Incidence rates of grade 3 and 4 adverse events were observed and comparable between FOLFIRI-B and FOLFIRI alone groups. Chinese patients with mCRC treated with second-line chemotherapy of FOLFIRI-B had better survivals than those patients treated with FOLFIRI alone.