Patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer experience survival benefits with fruquintinib

Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported study results showing that the targeted therapy fruquintinib significantly improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer.

The randomized Phase III FRESCO-2 clinical trial was conducted at 153 sites in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. The double-blind study evaluated treatment with the novel oral therapy fruquintinib — a small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR) — plus best supportive care compared to placebo plus best supportive care in heavily pre-treated patients with treatment-resistant metastatic colorectal cancer. The primary endpoint was OS.

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in men and in women, and the second most common cause of cancer death for men and women combined. Despite treatment advances, patients with metastatic colorectal cancer still have poor long-term survival rates. After patients progress through several lines of therapy, they typically live only four to five months. Therefore, there is a large need for treatment alternatives after current therapies are exhausted.

In June 2020, the Food and Drug Administration granted fast track designation to fruquintinib for the treatment of some patients with previously treated colorectal cancer.

The FRESCO-2 trial randomized 691 patients with advanced refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. Patients received either fruquintinib or placebo daily for three weeks, followed by one week off, in 28-day cycles. Subsequent anti-cancer therapies were given to 29.4% in the fruquintinib arm and 34.3% in the placebo arm. The disease control rate was 55.5% for fruquintinib versus 16.1% for placebo.

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