Drug Study Under Way for Lung Cancer

CHICAGO --- The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University will assess the use of Avastin (bevacizumab) in squamous non-small cell lung cancer. Bevacizumab is an antibody that binds with vascular endothelial growth factor, which regulates angiogenesis, or blood vessel growth, and inhibits the growth of blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors.

Jyoti Patel, M.D., instructor in medicine (hematology/oncology) at Feinberg School of Medicine and Cancer Center researcher, is the principal investigator for this nationwide study.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, with approximately 170,000 new cases diagnosed annually and over 85 percent of patients eventually dying of their disease. More than 80 percent of lung cancer is non-small cell lung cancer, and at least 40 percent of patients in this group have squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

Bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy has been shown in previous research to improve survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

The new clinical study will determine whether bevacizumab can be given safely and improve survival in an expanded population of patients with lung cancer, including squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

The phase II, open-label, multicenter study of bevacizumab in combination with radiation therapy and carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy is enrolling participants with stage IIIB or IV squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

For more information on this study, call (312) 695-4549.

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