Research spotlight: Novel regimens demonstrate efficacy in colorectal cancer

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. The campaign is intended to educate the public about risk factors of the disease — the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States — and the importance of screening.

In conjunction with this observance, we provide the following updates related to colorectal cancer treatment and detection that may be relevant to your practice.

• A three-drug combination demonstrated activity for patients with microsatellite-stable, BRAF V600E-positive metastatic colorectal cancer. The regimen — which consisted of encorafenib (Braftovi, Pfizer), cetuximab (Erbitux, Eli Lilly) and nivolumab (Opdivo, Bristol Myers Squibb) — also appeared well-tolerated.
• The combination of cabozantinib (Cabometyx, Exelixis) and durvalumab (Imfinzi, AstraZeneca) appeared safe and demonstrated efficacy among a small cohort of patients with advanced mismatch repair-proficient/microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer.
• The FDA approved cetuximab (Erbitux, Eli Lilly) in combination with encorafenib (Braftovi, Pfizer) for treatment of certain patients with colorectal cancer. The indication applies to use of the agents by adults with BRAF V600E mutation-positive metastatic disease detected by an FDA-approved test who received prior therapy.
• First-line nivolumab (Opdivo, Bristol Myers Squibb) plus standard of care chemotherapy failed to prolong 1-year PFS among patients with metastatic cancer.
• Sotorasib (Lumakras, Amgen) demonstrated antitumor activity among patients with heavily pretreated advanced KRAS G12C-mutated cancer.
• Younger and older patients with metastatic colorectal cancer had similar survival outcomes despite differences in fitness levels and treatment intensity.
• Robotic-assisted surgery significantly improved outcomes compared with laparoscopic surgery among patients with middle and low rectal cancer.
• Individuals aged between 20 and 39 years had the greatest burden of distant early-onset colorectal adenocarcinoma.
• Consumption of unprocessed red or processed meat did not impact risk for colon cancer recurrence or mortality.
• Weight loss during the first 3 months of systemic therapy for metastatic cancer coincided with significantly shorter OS compared with stable or increasing weight.

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