Angelia D. Gibson

Updated Results of a Phase III Trial Comparing Ibritumomab Tiuxetan with Rituximab in Previously Treated Patients with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

87 Rationale • Ibritumomab tiuxetan (ZevalinTM) is an yttrium 90–labeled anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody. Ibritumomab is the murine counterpart of rituximab, another antibody active in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). It is covalently linked to tiuxetan, which provides a high-affinity chelation site for indium 111 or for 90Y. In phase I/II studies, ibritumomab tiuxetan produced response rates of 67%-72% in patients with relapsed B-cell lymphomas.1,2

1999 35th Annual ASCO Meeting

On the opening day of the 35th annual ASCO meeting, Dr. Vassilius Georgoulias, from Greece, presented the results of a twoarm study conducted to determine whether a non-cisplatin containing chemotherapy combination might be a useful alternative to platinum-based chemotherapy for treating non–small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).1 The treatment schema is shown below. The results (adjacent) were similar for the two treatment regimens, with one notable exception: Patients with adenocarcinoma were more responsive to the docetaxel/ gemcitabine combination, whereas patients with nonadenocarcinoma responded more favorably to the cisplatin doublet. Patients receiving the docetaxel/cisplatin combination were more likely to develop grade 3 neutropenia and to experience nausea and vomiting. However, patients receiving docetaxel/gemcitabine experienced higher rates of fluid retention and increased incidences of febrile neutropenia and infection. There was a significant difference in the ease with which the two treatment regimens were administered: docetaxel/ gemcitabine could be administered on an outpatient basis, but the docetaxel/cisplatin combination required hospitalization. Dr. Georgoulias urged that more trials should be conducted comparing different chemotherapy combinations with and without cisplatin, to determine if cisplatin-based chemotherapy can be avoided altogether in the treatment of some subtypes of NSCLC. Non-Platinum Combinations for the Treatment of Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer