Dr. Mizrahi on Encouraging Trial Findings in mCRC

Jonathan Mizrahi, MD, a hematology/oncology fellow at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses encouraging trial findings in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

A phase II trial presented at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium evaluated the combination of durvalumab (Imfinzi) and tremelimumab. The study examined PD-L1 inhibition and CTLA-4 inhibition in a refractory patient population. Investigators looked at all-comers and observed an overall survival (OS) benefit, irrespective of PD-L1 status and microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) status. The OS difference was small but enough to meet the primary endpoint.

Additionally, data were presented on the phase III BEACON CRC study, which is looking at the combination of encorafenib (Braftovi), binimetinib (Mektovi), and cetuximab (Erbitux) in patients with BRAF-mutant metastatic disease. The preliminary results were encouraging, says Mizrahi. In July 2019, the triplet regimen was confirmed to have an OS advantage and to have resulted in a 48% reduction in the risk of progression or death. Due to these findings having exceeded historic data, the combination will likely become the standard of care for these patients, concludes Mizrahi.