Bevacizumab plus cisplatin/pemetrexed then bevacizumab alone for unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma: A Japanese safety study.

Aims: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive malignancy with poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Cisplatin plus pemetrexed is the only approved first-line treatment for patients with unresectable MPM. Recently, promising outcomes were observed with first-line bevacizumab combined with cisplatin/pemetrexed, leading to the recommendation of this regimen as a first-line treatment option for patients with MPM. Bevacizumab plus cisplatin/pemetrexed has been shown to be safe and effective in non-small cell lung cancer, however, there are no efficacy or safety data in Japanese patients with MPM treated with this regimen. We conducted a multicenter study to evaluate tolerability and safety for Japanese patients with chemotherapy-naïve, unresectable MPM.

Methods: Eligible patients (n = 7) received bevacizumab plus cisplatin/pemetrexed (up to six cycles), then single-agent bevacizumab until disease progression or onset of unacceptable adverse events (AEs), according to the 3+3 design analogy.

Results: One patient (14.3%) reported an AE (gastric ulcer) meeting tolerability criteria. All patients experienced gastrointestinal disorders, including nausea (grade 1/2 only, n = 6, 85.7%) and constipation (grade 1/2 only, n = 5, 71.4%). Five patients (71.4%) had grade 3 hypertension. Two patients discontinued treatment due to gastric ulcer (n = 1) and proteinuria (n = 1). At data cut-off, four patients had stable disease, two had partial response and one had non-complete response/non-progressive disease due to the absence of target lesions.

Conclusions: Bevacizumab plus cisplatin/pemetrexed then bevacizumab was well tolerated in Japanese patients with MPM.