Dr. Bendell on a Study of Onartuzumab Plus Bevacizumab for mCRC

Johanna Bendell, MD, director of GI Cancer Research Program, associate director, Drug Development Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the rationale of a phase II trial looking at onartuzumab (MetMAb) and bevacizumab for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

The c-MET receptor pathway has been the subject of a lot of recent research, Bendell says. It has been observed that high levels of the c-MET receptor seem to be associated with poor prognosis across multiple tumor types.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II study will evaluate onartuzumab in combination with bevacizumab plus mFOLFOX-6 in patients with previously untreated mCRC. It is hypothesized that the anti-VEGF abilities of bevacizumab will be synergistic with the anti-MET abilities of onartuzumab.