Discussant of this phase II study, Thomas Herzog, MD, Deputy Director of the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the UC College of Medicine, called the results “very exciting.”

“The 33% response rate with the combination of ixabepilone plus bevacizumab far exceeds the approximately 14% response rate that we see with most agents in the platinum-resistant space,” he said. “The efficacy looks very promising.”

Thomas Herzog, MD

Comparison With Data From ­AURELIA Trial

When compared with the paclitaxel arms of the AURELIA trial, which achieved responses of 28.8% with paclitaxel alone and 51.7% with the addition of bevacizumab, Dr. Herzog acknowledged that this ixabepilone combination yielded “considerably less” response. However, he also emphasized that patients receiving ixabepilone plus bevacizumab were “much more heavily pretreated” than on AURELIA, which was restricted to no more than two prior lines of treatment and had no platinum-refractory patients, as compared with 18% in the current study.

“More than half of patients on this study had received prior bevacizumab vs only 7.5% on the AURELIA trial, which is going to make a big difference,” Dr. Herzog observed. “This study showed even efficacy for overall survival that looked very interesting, although it was underpowered.”

Despite these promising data, Dr. Herzog noted that it typically takes two trials to sway guideline committees. 

DISCLOSURE: Dr. Herzog has served in a leadership role for the GOG Partners Board of Directors; and has served as a consultant or advisor to Aravive, AstraZeneca, Caris, Clovis Oncology, Eisai, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Roche/Genentech.