A trial comparing docetaxel and ramucirumab to docetaxel alone for non small cell lung cancer that has come back after treatment

This trial compared a drug called ramucirumab (pronounced ram-oo-seer-oo-mab) and docetaxel chemotherapy to docetaxel alone to treat non small cell lung cancer. It was for people whose cancer had spread to another part the body and had come back after treatment.

Doctors can treat non small cell lung cancer that has spread with chemotherapy such as docetaxel. But sometimes the cancer starts to grow again. When this happens it is often more difficult to treat.

Ramucirumab is a type of biological therapy called a monoclonal antibody. Monoclonal antibodies can seek out cancer cells by looking for particular proteins on the cell surface. Blocking them may stop the cancer growing.

Doctors want to find out if ramucirumab and docetaxel is better than docetaxel alone to treat non small cell lung cancer that had spread and had come back after treatment.

The aims of this trial were to find out

• If ramucirumab and docetaxel are better at treating non small cell lung cancer that had spread than docetaxel alone

• About the side effects