Efficacy of soft-tissue sarcoma treatment confirmed
Efficacy of soft-tissue sarcoma treatment confirmed
3 Mar 2015A large retrospective study carried out at 25 French centers focused on soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) patients, and the drug called Yondelis (trabectedin). The results confirm that in routine practice shows comparable, or better, clinical outcomes than those observed in clinical trials. The study was published in the European Journal of Cancer.
According to the authors, long-term treatment of multiple types of STS patients without progressive disease delayed progression and improved survival compared to those who stopped it after six cycles.
Study details
In this routine real-life scenario, the median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 4.4 and 12.2 months, respectively, after a median follow-up of 22 month. Of the 304 patients who achieved non-progressive disease after six cycles, 227 continued receiving trabectedin and obtained significant superior PFS (11.7 versus 7.6 months) and OS (24.9 versus 16.9 months) than those who did not.
Outcomes from 885 patients with soft-tissue sarcoma
The study using 885 patients from the RetrospectYon database suggests that treatment with YONDELIS® (trabectedin) can be optimized when given earlier, as second-line therapy, in patients who are likely to obtain clinical benefit
- The study reinforces the efficacy of this drug in multiple types of soft-tissue sarcoma and supports that long-term treatment delays disease progression
- Even in heavily pretreated patients, the efficacy of YONDELIS® (trabectedin) was similar or improved compared to historical controls
Important real-world data
Despite the limitations of the study, the investigators emphasize that this clinical strategy may achieve longer disease control without compromising the safety profile of the treatment, given that a third of the patients received 6 or more cycles of the drug and were able to tolerate longer treatments.
"Harnessing real-world data from patients who do not progress after finishing 6 cycles, we provide the rationale to strongly consider treating these patients until disease progression given the improvement in survival" says lead investigator Axel Le Cesne, MD, Department of Medicine, Institut Gustave Roussy, France.
Source: Medical News Today