PURPOSE This trial investigated the addition of panitumumab to triplet chemotherapy with fluorouracil/folinic acid, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan (FOLFOXIRI) in a two-to-one randomized, controlled, open-label, phase II trial in patients with untreated RAS wild-type (WT) metastatic colorectal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS The primary end point was objective response rate (ORR) according to RECIST (version 1.1). The experimental arm (modified FOLFOXIRI [mFOLFOXIRI] plus panitumumab) was considered active if the ORR was ≥ 75%. The experimental ORR was compared with an estimated ORR of 60% based on historical data, verified by a randomized control group (FOLFOXIRI). The power of the trial was 80%, with a potential type I error of 0.05. Secondary end points included secondary resection rate, toxicity, progression-free survival, and overall survival. RESULTS A total of 63 patients were randomly assigned to the experimental arm and 33 patients to the control arm. The ORR of the mFOLFOXIRI plus panitumumab arm exceeded 75% and was higher when compared with that of FOLFOXIRI (87.3% v 60.6%; odds ratio, 4.469; 95% CI, 1.61 to 12.38; P = .004). The secondary resection rate was improved with the addition of panitumumab (33.3% v 12.1%; P = .02). Progression-free survival was similar in the study arms, whereas overall survival showed a trend in favor of the panitumumab-containing arm (hazard ratio for death, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.41 to 1.11; P = .12). CONCLUSION The addition of panitumumab to mFOLFOXIRI in patients with RAS WT metastatic colorectal cancer improved the ORR and rate of secondary resection of metastases and represents a treatment option in selected and fit patients in need of highly active first-line therapy. Future studies should determine whether the addition of panitumumab to mFOLFOXIRI prolongs survival.

BACKGROUND: Gemcitabine, oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) are active in biliary tract cancer and have a potentially synergistic mode of action and non-overlapping toxicity. The objective of these trials was to determine response, survival and toxicity separately in patients with bile duct cancer (BDC) and gallbladder cancer (GBC) treated with gemcitabine/oxaliplatin/5-FU chemotherapy. METHODS: Eligible patients with histologically proven, advanced or metastatic BDC (n ¼ 37) or GBC (n ¼ 35) were treated with gemcitabine (900 mg m À2 over 30 min), oxaliplatin (65 mg m À2 ) and 5-FU (1500 mg m À2 over 24 h) on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle. Tumour response was the primary outcome measure. RESULTS: Response rates were 19% (95% CI: 6 -32%) and 23% (95% CI: 9 -37%) for BDC and GBC, respectively. Median survivals were 10.0 months (95% CI: 8.6 -12.4) and 9.9 months (95% CI: 7.5 -12.2) for BDC and GBC, respectively, and 1-and 2-year survival rates were 40 and 23% in BDC and 34 and 6% in GBC (intention-to-treat analysis). Major grade III and IV adverse events were neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, elevated bilirubin and anorexia. CONCLUSION: Triple-drug chemotherapy achieves comparable results for response and survival to previously reported regimens, but with more toxicity.

Response rates and survival of the three-drug combination compare favorably with single-agent gemcitabine, but do not exceed results for doublets.

Purpose In mCRC, disease dynamics may play a critical role in the understanding of long-term outcome. We evaluated depth of response (DpR), time to DpR, and post-DpR survival as relevant endpoints. Methods We analyzed DpR by central review of computer tomography images (change from baseline to smallest tumor diameter), early tumor shrinkage (≥ 20% reduction in tumor diameter at first reassessment), time to DpR (study randomization to DpR-image), post-DpR progression-free survival (pPFS = DpR-image to tumor progression or death), and post-DpR overall survival (pOS = DpR-image to death) with special focus on BRAF status in 66 patients and primary tumor site in 86 patients treated within the VOLFI-trial, respectively. Results BRAF wild-type (BRAF-WT) compared to BRAF mutant (BRAF-MT) patients had greater DpR (− 57.6% vs. − 40.8%, p = 0.013) with a comparable time to DpR [4.0 (95% CI 3.1-4.4) vs. 3.9 (95% CI 2.5-5.5) months; p = 0.8852]. pPFS was 6.5 (95% CI 4.9-8.0) versus 2.6 (95% CI 1.2-4.0) months in favor of BRAF-WT patients (HR 0.24 (95% CI 0.11-0.53); p < 0.001). This transferred into a significant difference in pOS [33.6 (95% CI 26.0-41.3) vs. 5.4 (95% CI 5.0-5.9) months; HR 0.27 (95% CI 0.13-0.55); p < 0.001]. Similar observations were made for patients stratified for primary tumor site. Conclusions BRAF-MT patients derive a less profound treatment response compared to BRAF-WT patients. The difference in outcome according to BRAF status is evident after achievement of DpR with BRAF-MT patients hardly deriving any further disease control beyond DpR. Our observations hint towards an aggressive tumor evolution in BRAF-MT tumors, which may already be molecularly detectable at the time of DpR.

352 Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma still remains a major cause of cancer related deaths in the western world. The current study was conducted to confirm the activity and feasibility of docetaxel/ oxaliplatin combination in second line treatment of advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Methods: Prospective single arm, non-randomized, multi-center, Simon’s two stage phase II trial using docetaxel (75 mg/m2, 60 min, d 1) and oxaliplatin (80 mg/m2, 120 min, d 2) in 21-day cycles. Duration of the trial was scheduled up two 8 cycles. Primary endpoint was tumor response according to RECIST 1.0. Secondary endpoints were progression free survival, overall survival, safety/toxicity, quality of life and clinical benefit. Results: Data represents the intention to treat analysis of 44 patients included between 2008 and 2012. The majority of patients received a gemcitabine based first-line chemotherapy (95.5%). The primary endpoint of tumor response was achieved in 15.9% (7 partial remissions, no complete remission), with a disease control rate of 48% after the first two treatment cycles. Median progression free survival was 7 weeks (CI 6-15.9 weeks) and overall survival 40 weeks (CI 20.4-56.4 weeks). No unexpected adverse events occured. The recorded AEs were mainly hematologic (neutropenia grade 3/4 63.6%, febrile neutropenia 4.6%), gastrointestinal (29.6% grade 3/4 AEs) and infectious (18.2% grade 3/4 AEs). Conclusions: In this single-arm second line trial for the treatment of advanced PDAC, the combination of docetaxel and oxaliplatin shows promising results comparable with other second line protocols such as OFF (oxaliplatin, 5-FU, leucovorin) or liposomal irinotecan (MM-398) plus 5-FU/leucovorin (NAPOLI 1-trial). Some patients seem to benefit particularly as indicated by long periods of treatment in this setting. Even after 8 cycles of treatment with DocOx, partial response was observed in 2 patients and stable disease in another 6 patients corresponding to a disease control rate of 18%. The toxicity profile was quite tolerable and comparable to other second line studies. Clinical trial information: NCT00690300.