Targeted drugs in metastatic colorectal cancer with special emphasis on guidelines for the use of bevacizumab and cetuximab: An Acta Oncologica expert report

Abstract

From having been a ‘single-drug not very interesting cancer type’ from a medical treatment perspective, treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) has during the past five years become a more complex issue of the appropriate use of several cytotoxic drugs sometimes integrated with advanced metastatic surgery with curative intent. The new drugs have provided significant benefit to the patients, so far mostly in the metastatic setting but also in adjuvant treatment. The significant progress in molecular and tumour biology has produced a great number of new ‘targeted’ drugs that are now in various stages of clinical development. Two of these drugs, the monoclonal antibodies bevacizumab (Avastin™) and cetuximab (Erbitux™), directed against VEGF and EGFR, respectively, have recently been approved within the EU for use in metastatic CRC. This Nordic Expert Consensus Report summarizes the current status of chemotherapy in metastatic CRC, overviews the clinical status of targeted drugs in CRC and, finally, provides guidelines for the routine clinical use of bevacizumab and cetuximab based on the most recently available clinical data.