Pemetrexed and carboplatin plus bevacizumab with maintenance pemetrexed and bevacizumab as first-line therapy for advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Abstract

8044 Background: Pemetrexed in combination with carboplatin has been shown to have promising activity, particularily in adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma, as well as superior toxicity profile in advanced NSCLC. Bevacizumab has been shown to improve survival of patients with advanced NSCLC when combined with other platin doublets. This study of pemetrexed and carboplatin plus bevacizumab with maintenance pemetrexed and bevacizumab was designed to evaluate toxicities and estimate median time to progression of this novel regimen. Methods: Pts must be chemotherapy naive, stage IIIB (effusion) or IV non-squamous NSCLC, PS 0–1, and have no evidence of CNS metastases. Patients receive pemetrexed 500 mg/m2, carboplatin AUC 6, and bevacizumab 15 mg/kg. Treatment is repeated every 21 days for 6 cycles. For patients with SD or PR, pemetrexed 500 mg/m2 and bevacizumab 15 mg/kg are continued every 21 days until disease progression or toxicity. All patients receive folic acid, vitamin B12 and steroid prophylaxis....