Real-World Experience With Bevacizumab for Newly Diagnosed Ovarian Cancer

Among patients with ovarian cancer who received first-line treatment with bevacizumab, clinical outcomes and tolerability are consistent in the real-world setting and clinical trials, according to study findings (Front Pharmacol. 2021;12:711813. doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.711813).

“Bevacizumab-containing therapy is considered a standard-of-care front-line option for stage IIIB–IV ovarian cancer based on results of randomized phase 3 trials,” wrote Dominique Berton, MD, Institut de Cancérologie de l’Ouest, Saint-Herblain, France, and colleagues.

This study aimed to assess bevacizumab administration and outcomes in the real-world setting in the French population. Patients aged ≥18 years with planned bevacizumab-containing therapy for newly diagnosed ovarian cancer were eligible.

The primary study objective was assessing safety of first-line bevacizumab in routine clinical practice and secondary objectives included describing patient characteristics, indications/contraindications for bevacizumab, treatment regimens and comedications, progression-free survival (PFS), and treatment recurrence.

A total of 1290 patients were screened for the study between April 2013 and February 2015; 468 patients were eligible. Of these patients, 86% received bevacizumab 15 mg/kg every 3 weeks or equivalent, typically with carboplatin (99%) and paclitaxel (98%). The median duration of bevacizumab treatment was 12.2 months.

Overall, 8% of patients discontinued bevacizumab because of toxicity. The most common adverse events were hypertension (38%), fatigue (35%), and bleeding (32%). No treatment-related deaths were reported.

Median PFS was 17.4 months and 3-year overall survival rate was 62%. At recurrence, the most administered chemotherapies were carboplatin and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin.

“Clinical outcomes and tolerability with bevacizumab in this real-life setting are consistent with randomized trial results, notwithstanding differences in the treated patient population and treatment schedule,” concluded Dr Berton and colleagues.