ASCO: No Benefit for Docetaxel (Taxotere) Consolidation Therapy in NSCLC

CHICAGO, June 5 -- Docetaxel (Taxotere) added to both concurrent radiation and platinum-based chemotherapy did not significantly improve survival in patients with non-resectable phase III non-small cell lung cancer.

Moreover the addition of docetaxel-referred to as consolidation therapy-significantly increased toxicity, found Nasser Hanna, M.D., of Indiana University and the Hoosier Oncology Group (HOG), and colleagues.

Progression-free survival for patients in the docetaxel treatment arm was 12.3 months, compared with 12.9 months for patients in the control arm (P=0.941), Dr. Hanna reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.

The researchers found other problems as well: The infection rate was 11% higher in the docetaxel arm (P=0.03) and the penumonitis rate was 9.6% higher in the docetaxel arm than in the control arm (P

The primary endpoint was overall survival.

Mark Green, M.D., of the Network for Medical Communication and Research Analysis Group, who served as discussant for the paper, predicted that the findings would change clinical practice.

"I expect that relatively soon, consolidation approaches will no longer be the dominant approach," Dr. Green said.