Significant Survival Advantages For Combination Chemotherapy Patients.(Brief Article)

2002 JAN 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. Oncology announced that data presented by two network-affiliated physicians at the 24th San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium underscore that the chemotherapy combination of Xeloda (capecitabine) and Taxotere (docetaxel) significantly improves survival for women with metastatic breast cancer who were previously treated with anthracycline therapy, as compared with Taxotere alone.

Poststudy analysis also indicates a pharmacoeconomic benefit to the combination over Taxotere alone. The data, all from a Phase III trial, were the first to have shown that combination therapy has demonstrated superior survival to Taxotere alone in those with metastatic breast cancer.

Sasha Vukelja, MD, of the Tyler Cancer Center, Tyler, Texas, a practice site of Texas Oncology, PA, affiliated with U.S. Oncology, presented an update on the Phase III trial of Xeloda-Taxotere combination therapy in locally advanced/metastatic breast cancer. Results of this 511 patient study show that the combination of Xeloda and Taxotere:

* Provide a statistically significant survival benefit compared to Taxotere monotherapy (median 14.5 months vs. 11.5 months, log rank p

* Demonstrated a statistically significant superior tumor response of 32% compared with Taxotere monotherapy of 23% (p=0.025); and

* Time-to-disease progression is significantly longer for patients treated with Xeloda and Taxotere: median 6.1 months versus 4.2 months with Taxotere alone (p=0.001, hazard ratio=0.660).

"Xeloda combined with Taxotere is an important treatment improvement for women with metastatic breast cancer," said Vukelja. "The clinical data show significant improvements in survival, tumor response and time to disease progression for the combination compared to Taxotere alone in patients after failure of anthracycline treatment. Based on these data we believe an estimated additional 10% of patients with metastatic breast cancer will be alive at the end of 12 months when on Xeloda and Taxotere combination chemotherapy, compared to Taxotere alone."