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ABSTRACT
Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. The prognosis of colorectal cancer patients still remains dismal and half of them will develop metastatic disease. Angiogenesis plays an essential role in colorectal tumorigenesis, and the VEGF pathway is one of the targets that has been validated up to now. The use of antiangiogenics along with chemotherapy has become an accepted standard for colorectal cancer.
Areas covered: This review discusses the efficacy and safety profile of ramucirumab, a fully human immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibody against the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2), for the treatment of second-line metastatic colorectal cancer upon progression to first-line chemotherapy including anti-angiogenics.
Expert opinion: Ramucirumab in combination with chemotherapy represents a valid option in second-line treatment of advanced colorectal cancer patients, who progressed on previous bevacizumab-based combinations. This agent demonstrates a similar benefit in terms of overall survival to other angiogenesis inhibitors (bevacizumab and ziv-aflibercept) used in this setting.
Declaration of Interest
A Cervantes has held consulting/advisory roles at Amgen, Merck Serono, Roche, Bayer, Lilly. He has served on the speaker’s bureau for Roche, and Merck Serono. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.