Bevacizumab as first-line therapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a brazilian center experience

Bevacizumab has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as a first-line therapy for metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel. A single Latin American center experience was reviewed to determine the safety and efficacy of adding bevacizumab to first-line chemotherapy in a local population.

We retrospectively identified patients with non-squamous NSCLC treated with bevacizumab plus chemotherapy combinations as first-line chemotherapy between July 1, 2006, and January 30, 2011, at Sirio Libanes Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We collected data on patient characteristics, treatment combinations, toxicities, response to treatment, and survival. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were calculated by Kaplan-Meier analysis, and prognostic factors were identified by the Cox regression model.

A total of 56 patients were included in the final analysis (median age 62.4 years; 70% male). In 35 patients (62.5%), bevacizumab was combined with carboplatin and paclitaxel, and in 16 patients (28.6%), it was combined with pemetrexed and carboplatin. The response rate evaluated by the reference clinical team reached 74.5%, the median PFS was 5.3 months, and the median OS was 14.8 months. In multivariate analysis, use of maintenance therapy was the only predictive factor for OS (hazard ratio 6.85, 95% confidence interval 2.94-15.22). No treatment-related deaths were identified, and the overall incidence of grade 3-4 non-hematologic toxicities was 16%.

Our results confirm the efficacy and safety data of bevacizumab first-line combinations for NSCLC in a Brazilian population.