Dr. Meyerhardt on the Rationale for the CALGB/SWOG 80702 Trial in Colon Cancer

Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, FASCO, clinical director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center; co-director, Colon and Rectal Cancer Center; deputy clinical research officer, Douglas Gray Woodruff Chair in Colorectal Cancer Research, senior physician, at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, discusses the rationale for the randomized phase 3 CALGB/SWOG 80702 trial in colon cancer.

During the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program, findings from the study showed that the addition of celecoxib to standard chemotherapy did not significantly improve disease-free or overall survival among patients with colon cancer.

Observational studies showed that patients who received aspirin or COX-2 inhibitors had a lower risk of developing colon polyps, explains Meyerhardt. Additionally, patients with colorectal cancer who took these medications appeared to have fewer subsequent polyps compared with those who did not.

Results from other studies have suggested that patients who took aspirin or COX-2 inhibitors for cardiovascular or arthritis reasons had a decreased risk of colon cancer recurrence with improved survival, Meyerhardt adds.

The study enrolled patients with stage III, resected colon cancer with positive lymph nodes. Patients received chemotherapy at varying durations to determine whether 3 years of added celecoxib would improve outcomes, concludes Meyerhardt.