A phase II trial of gefitinib in combination with capecitabine and oxaliplatin as first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer

ABSTRACTObjective: This study was designed as a multicentre phase II trial to assess the efficacy and safety of gefitinib in association with capecitabine and oxaliplatin in patients with untreated metastatic colorectal cancer.Research design and methods: Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that had received no prior chemotherapy for advanced disease were treated with oral gefitinib (250 mg daily) plus oral capecitabine (1000 mg/m2 twice a day on Days 1–14) and intravenous oxaliplatin (120 mg/m2 on Day 1 of each 3‑week cycle).Results: Thirty-five patients were enrolled. In the intention-to-treat analysis, 3 (8.6%) patients experienced a complete response (CR), 14 (40%) a partial response (PR) and 11 (31.4%) had stable disease (SD). The disease control rate (CR + PR + SD) was 80%, the median time to progression was 7.3 months (95%CI: 4.76–9.2) and the estimated median overall survival was 21.9 months (95% CI: 15.1–not reached). The most common grade 3 to 4 toxicities included diarrhoea (31%) and vom...