Panitumumab in colorectal cancer

The combination of chemotherapy and targeted therapies is rapidly becoming the standard of care in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Panitumumab (formerly ABX-EGF) is a fully human antibody developed to target the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR/HER-1), which is expressed in up to 75% of patients with colorectal cancer. As a fully human antibody, panitumumab can be administered without any premedication and few infusion reactions have been reported. It has recently been approved in the USA for the treatment of colorectal cancer as a single agent in the salvage setting. Ongoing studies are being performed to determine whether the addition of panitumumab to standard treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer will improve the survival of these patients.