Longevity & AgingTovecimig Plus Paclitaxel Improves Tumor Response and Progression-Free Survival in Biliary Tract Cancer
Biliary tract cancer is an aggressive malignancy with few options once first-line chemotherapy stops working. The COMPANION-002 trial tested tovecimig, an experimental antibody that blocks two tumor blood-vessel growth signals (VEGF-A and DLL4), combined with the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel. In 168 patients who had already received gemcitabine and cisplatin, 18.0% responded to the combination versus 5.3% on paclitaxel alone. Median time before the cancer progressed rose from 2.6 to 4.7 months. However, overall survival was essentially the same, 8.9 versus 9.4 months. Crossover to the combination after progression in the paclitaxel-only group may have blurred that comparison. Experts called the results encouraging but said a larger phase III trial against the FOLFOX regimen would be ideal. The findings were presented at ESMO and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
