Adjuvant bevacizumab failed to improve survival outcomes in triple-negative disease

SAN ANTONIO — The addition of bevacizumab to standard taxane- or anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens did not improve invasive DFS, according to findings presented here.

David Cameron, MD, professor of oncology at Edinburgh University in Scotland, discussed data from the Bevacizumab Adjuvant Therapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (BEATRICE) trial at a press conference the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

There were 2,591 patients with centrally confirmed triple-negative disease included in the analysis. One group of 1,290 patients received standard chemotherapy and the other group was assigned standard therapy plus bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech) 5 mg/kg per week. Standard chemotherapy options included taxane- or anthracycline-based regimens, or a combination of the two.

“Anthracycline plus taxane was the most common,” Cameron said.

The primary endpoint was invasive DFS. “Unfortunately, for women with triple-negative breast cancer, adding bevacizumab did not significantly improve DFS,” Cameron said. “In terms of OS, this is an underpowered analysis in that we don’t have enough patients. But we don’t see any benefit to bevacizumab.”

Cameron highlighted an HR for invasive DFS of 0.87 (95% CI, 0.72-1.07) in favor of patients in the bevacizumab cohort.

The toxicity profile included increased rates of hypertension, but Cameron said this is a common adverse event with bevacizumab. He added that left ventricular ejection fraction was also elevated.

“The rate of true heart failure was extremely low, but higher than New York Heart Association standards,” Cameron said. “For all grades, 80% of patients had a recovery. This was nothing outside what would have been expected for this drug.”

Cameron concluded that the outcome of the study regarding the toxicity profile was much better than the researchers expected. “However, in terms of improvement of outcome, giving 1 year of bevacizumab isn’t the answer,” he said.

The study was conducted between December 2007 and March 2010.

For more information:

Cameron D. #S6-5. Presented at: the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; Dec. 4-8, 2012; San Antonio.

Disclosure: Cameron reports being compensated for advisory board and consultancy work for Roche while the study was being conducted. He reported that, apart from travel expenses, neither he nor his institution received funding regarding involvement in this study.