Dr. Ruff on Prior Bevacizumab in the VELOUR Trial

Paul Ruff, MD, director of medical oncology at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, discusses the analysis of prior bevacizumab in the VELOUR trial in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

In the trial, about one-third of patients received prior bevacizumab. Bevacizumab is popular in the U.S., Ruff says, and is an anti-angiogenic therapy similar to aflibercept. Though the mechanism of action is different, aflibercept seems to be more potent than bevacizumab in the laboratory, but this has not been proven in the clinic.

In the trial, researchers wanted to see if patients who had received bevacizumab would benefit from aflibercept. Patients did see benefit, Ruff says, as the one-third part of the population who received prior bevacizumab did just as well as those who did not receive bevacizumab.