Bevacizumab beyond first diseaase progression in metastatic colorectal cancer: a review of recent clinical trial data

The continuum of care for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer continues to evolve as data from clinical trials evaluating novel agents, treatment combinations or treatment sequencing become available. The concept of continued angiogenesis suppression through multiple lines of therapy has been hypothesized to be beneficial in terms of increased overall survival. This has been evaluated in clinical trials, suggesting that exposure to bevacizumab in the first-line setting and continued beyond first disease progression was associated with statistically significant improvements in survival outcomes. Here, we will discuss the concept of bevacizumab beyond first disease progression in the context of recent clinical trials of bevacizumab, other antiangiogenic agents and other targeted therapies for metastatic colorectal cancer in first- and later-line disease settings.