A trial looking at MoAB 17-1A after surgery for bowel cancer (CALGB 9581)

Cancer type:

Bowel (colorectal) cancer

Colon cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Phase 3

This trial looked at a new treatment called MoAB 17-1A to see if it could reduce the risk of bowel cancer (colorectal cancer) coming back after surgery.

Surgery is usually the first treatment for bowel cancer. But even if the cancer has been completely removed, there is a small risk the cancer can come back (recur). People who have had surgery see their doctor regularly to check for signs that the cancer has started to grow again. The doctors running this trial wanted to see if MoAB 17-1A reduced the risk of the cancer coming back. But they weren’t sure if it would work.

MoAB 17-1A is a type biological therapy called a monoclonal antibody. It helps the body’s immune system to attack and kill cancer cells.

The aim of this trial was to see if having MoAB 17-1 A after surgery helped to stop stage 2 bowel cancer coming back.

Summary of results

The trial team found that MoAB 17-1A does not reduce the risk of stage 2 bowel cancer coming back after surgery.

The trial recruited 1,738 people who had bowel cancer that had been completely removed with surgery.

Half had MoAB 17-1A once a month for 5 months
Half had standard care - doctors call this the ‘control group ’

The researchers looked at whose cancer had come back and how long people lived for after treatment. They found no difference between the 2 groups.

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 (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) but may not have been published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.