
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.
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
The trial team found that ramucirumab with docetaxel helped people to live longer when they had non small cell lung cancer that had spread.
This was an international phase 3 trial. This randomised trial recruited 1,253 people. They were put into 1 of 2 treatment groups. Neither they nor their doctor chose which group they were in
When the researchers looked at the average time people were free of their cancer they found that it was
The average overall time people lived was
The most common side effects in both groups were
The trial team concluded that people with non small cell lung cancer that had spread lived longer when treated with ramucirumab and docetaxel than with docetaxel alone.
We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Dr Conrad Lewanski
Eli Lilly and Company Limited
Freephone 0808 800 4040
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.