Erbitux (Cetuximab) Given Alone to Patients With EGFR-Negative Metastatic Colon or Rectal Cancer That is Refractory to Chemotherapy

Study Summary

This is a phase II, multicenter, open-label study of cetuximab in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) negative, metastatic colorectal carcinoma who have progressed after receiving at least one standard chemotherapeutic regimen that included a fluoropyrimidine. Target enrollment is 80 evaluable patients. Patients with EGFR-negative metastatic colorectal carcinoma who have progressed after receiving at least one standard chemotherapeutic regimen that included a fluoropyrimidine, will receive an initial dose of cetuximab, 400 mg/m2 , intravenously (i.v.) over 120 minutes, followed by weekly treatment with cetuximab, 250 mg/m2 i.v. over 60 minutes. Patients who experience unacceptable toxicity or who have progressive disease (PD) will not receive further cetuximab therapy. Patients will be evaluated for a tumor response at a minimum of every 6 weeks while on cetuximab therapy. Patients with stable disease (SD), partial response (PR), or a complete response (CR) may continue to receive weekly cetuximab therapy, unless they are dose-delayed or discontinued because of toxicity. Patients who have a PR or CR must have a confirmatory tumor assessment no less than 4 weeks after the initial evaluation demonstrating a response. To evaluate the objective response rate, a single-stage design will be used in this study.

Primary Outcome

Determine the response rate (complete response \[CR\] and partial response \[PR\]) in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-negative metastatic colorectal carcinoma treated with cetuximab, as classified by the investigator according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. The calculation was the total number of patients with CR or PR divided by the total number of patients treated.

Interventions

• BIOLOGICAL cetuximab