Paclitaxel, Bevacizumab and Pemetrexed in Patients With Untreated, Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Using Web-Based Data Collection, Patient Self-Reporting of Adverse Effects and Automated Response Assessment

Overview

The purpose of this study is to determine the percentage of patients with non-small cell lung cancer that will experience a shrinkage of their tumors following treatment with three medications given together: paclitaxel, pemetrexed (Alimta®), and bevacizumab (Avastin®). Each of these medications has been approved by the FDA for patients that have not received any treatment for their lung cancer. This study is designed to study the effects of all three drugs given at the same time. Each of these medications has been studied in lung cancer and is commercially available. Paclitaxel and pemetrexed are traditional chemotherapy drugs. Bevacizumab is a monoclonal antibody, which means that it attaches to a specific target. Bevacizumab attaches to a protein in the blood stream called Vascular Endothelial GrowthFactor (VEGF). VEGF helps tumors grow new blood vessels to feed themselves, and bevacizumab is thought to help block this new growth of blood vessels and starve the tumors of the nutrients they need.

In this clinical trial, we also will be studying other things. We want to learn more about how to manage side effects patients may develop during chemotherapy. Cancer patients may develop side effects during treatment, such as nausea, pain, fatigue, diarrhea, constipation, or shortness of breath. These symptoms may be due to the cancer itself, or due to treatments like chemotherapy drugs or radiation therapy. Doctors and nurses often ask patients about their symptoms, because an important part of cancer treatment is to make patients feel as well as possible. If patients do not feel well, we may need to change the way we are treating them or prescribe therapies that will decrease their symptoms. The best way to find out how the patient is feeling is to ask them directly. We are interested in developing new ways to ask patients about how they are feeling, using the Internet. A special new website called STAR ("Symptom Tracking and Reporting for Patients") has been developed to help patients record this information, so that their doctors and nurses can review it during clinic appointments. This study is designed to help us see if STAR is a helpful way for us to keep track of information about patients' symptoms and quality of life. As part of this study, a computerized (automated) technique of determining the size of the patients tumor(s) before and after treatment will be used. This has been tested in the past and found to be more accurate. The automated technique of determining tumor size will be used with the routine CT scans that the patient will have as part of the study. This automated method of measuring the tumor(s) will allow us to know sooner whether this drug treatment is causing the disease to shrink. The information from STAR and the automated tumor measurements are going to be placed on a very secure Internet site. This will provide the doctor with all of the information needed to determine if this drug combination is working for the patient and whether to continue this study. Also, if there is a tumor sample from a biopsy done in the past, it will be analyzed for a protein that may be present in the lung cancer.