EAGLES study: First-line bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced, metastatic, non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer

Background/Aim: The management of elderly patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC includes several strategies. Patients and Methods: Patients (≥70 years) were randomly assigned to bevacizumab (7.5 mg/kg i.v. on day 1) plus gemcitabine (1,200 mg/m2 i.v. on days 1-8) (arm A) or bevacizumab (7.5 mg/kg i.v.) and cisplatin (60 mg/m2 i.v.) plus gemcitabine (1,000 mg/m2 i.v. on days 1-8) (arm B), to independently evaluate treatments. The primary endpoint was progression-free rate at 6 months; secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS) and safety profiles. Results: At 6 months, 5 (11.6%) patients in arm A and 5 patients (12.5%) in arm B were found to be progression-free. Median PFS was 4.8 months in arm A and 6.5 months in arm B, respectively. Conclusion: In our experience, combination of bevacizumab and chemotherapy had encouraging antitumor efficacy as first-line therapy in elderly patients with non-squamous NSCLC.