Biweekly cetuximab and irinotecan in advanced colorectal cancer patients progressing after at least one previous line of chemotherapy: results of a phase II single institution trial

This is a phase II institutional exploratory trial of biweekly irinotecan and cetuximab administration regimen in metastatic colorectal cancer patients progressing to at least one previous chemotherapy line. A total of 40 patients were treated between November 2005 and November 2007 with irinotecan 180 mg m(−2) and cetuximab 500 mg m(−2) q2w (every 2 weeks), in every 21-day cycles, until unacceptable toxicity or progressive disease. An overall response rate of 22.5% was obtained (two complete and seven partial responses). The disease control rate was 60%. The time to progression was 3.4 months and the overall survival was 8 months. The toxicity compared very favourably to weekly cetuximab combination schedules. Grade 3/4 adverse effects were observed in 12 patients. Overall, our results turn up very similar both in terms of toxicity and efficacy to those obtained by weekly and biweekly administration regimens.