Phase III data: Merck KGaA's Erbitux plus FOLFOX improves outcomes in RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer

New Phase III data confirms that adding Erbitux (cetuximab) to FOLFOX significantly improves outcomes in RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Erbitux is already the standard-of-care treatment in many major markets, but German life sciences company Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) , which sees the drug as one of its strategic priority products, hopes this new data will ensure its patients have optimal access to this drug worldwide.

The findings were announced at the ESMO 18th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer (WCGC) and come from the pivotal Phase III TAILOR study in patients from China, the first prospective trial to evaluate an anti-EGFR antibody in the first-line therapy of patients with RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer.