Advances in cervical cancer pharmacotherapies

While widely employed in the management of cervical cancer, the overall utility of systemic anti-neoplastic agents in this clinical setting is quite modest. Cisplatin, the single most studied agent, is currently administered concurrently with external beam radiation as a component of "standard-of-care" in the management of locally advanced cervical cancer. Cisplatin (or carboplatin) combined with paclitaxel is the most commonly utilized regimen in the metastatic/recurrent disease setting (assuming the absence of evidence the cancer is resistant to platinum agents). Recently reported phase 3 trial data have demonstrated that the addition of bevacizumab to either a cisplatin/paclitaxel or paclitaxel/topotecan chemotherapy regimen improves overall survival in metastatic/recurrent cervical cancer.