10/05/2023
Exciting new study just out assessing what patients with stage IV should have when diagnosed. The study from Japan assessed if patients who do not have a cancer with mutation of the RAS gene should have panitumimab added to their chemotherapy, or Avastin (which in UK we have to pay for). The study demonstrates that patients who had panitumimab had a greater response rate, the response rate lasted longer, more patients became candidates for surgery, and survival was longer than the patients who had Avastin. Some of you may be aware that oncologists tend to only prescribe Panitumimab (or it’s equivalent cetuximab) for left sided bowel cancers as there has been the belief that it doesn’t work for tumours of the right side of the bowel. This study shows that Panitumimab had the greatest effect for patients with left sided BUT it was still superior to Avastin when given to patients with right sided cancers. Link below https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2803803
