The Price Tag on Progress — Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

From the 1960s until the mid-1990s, fluorouracil was the primary chemotherapeutic agent available for the treatment of colorectal cancer. During the past decade, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved five new drugs for metastatic colorectal cancer. Irinotecan (approved in 1996) and oxaliplatin (2002) are cytotoxic agents that interfere with DNA replication, and capecitabine (1998) is an oral formulation of fluorouracil. This spring, the monoclonal antibodies bevacizumab and cetuximab, targeting vascular endothelial growth factor and epithelial growth factor receptor, respectively, were approved by the FDA for use in conjunction with cytotoxic regimens.Better systemic therapy has considerably improved prognosis. . . .