Taxotere^® Chemotherapy Benefits: Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Taxotere^® (docetaxel ) chemotherapy offers many benefits to people living with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common type of lung cancer.

In clinical trials (also called studies) comparing Taxotere^® to other chemotherapy treatments for non-small-cell lung cancer, people receiving Taxotere^® experienced advantages like the following:

• Longer survival in second-line treatment vs best supportive care (BSC) treatment.
• Less weight loss in second-line treatment
• Fewer first-line treatment discontinuations due to adverse events with Taxotere^® + cisplatin vs vinorelbine + cisplatin (15.7% vs 22.5%).

Taxotere^® Proven Effective in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Studies

Taxotere^® received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA ) to treat people with non-small-cell lung cancer either as original therapy with cisplatin or after a platinum based therapy. This approval was based on studies that proved the effectiveness of Taxotere^® compared to other chemotherapy drugs in treating non-small-cell lung cancer.

Two clinical trials including people with locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer, who were receiving treatment for the second time (second-line treatment ) because their cancer progressed during or after treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy , compared the following treatment plans:

• Taxotere^® vs. Best Supportive Care (BSC)
• Taxotere^® vs. one of the two chemotherapy drugs: vinorelbine or ifosfamide

Another clinical trial, which included people with unresectable (not able to be surgically removed), locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer, who were receiving chemotherapy drugs for the first time (first-line treatment ), compared the following two treatment regimens :

• The chemotherapy regimen Taxotere^® and cisplatin.
• The chemotherapy regimen vinorelbine and cisplatin.

In these three studies, the Taxotere^®-based chemotherapy treatment regimens demonstrated some of the following advantages over the other treatment plans:

• Proven survival:
  • Significantly longer median overall survival with Taxotere 75 mg/m² as compared with BSC: 7.5 months vs 4.6 months (P≤.05) in second-line.
  • Proven first-line survival in advanced NSCLC including patients ≥ 65 years. Overall survival with Taxotere^® + cisplatin was 10.9 months and with Vinorelbine + cisplatin was 10.0 months, however the difference was not statically significant.
• Shrunken tumors:
  • Tumor size decreased in 32% of people receiving Taxotere^® vs cisplatin and in 24% of people receiving vinorelbine + cisplatin. The difference was not significant.

Taxotere^® well-established safety profile in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Studies

• Better ability to complete planned course of treatment:
  • When compared to people receiving vinorelbine + cisplatin, more people receiving Taxotere^® + cisplatin completed all of their treatment cycles.
• Fewer treatment discontinuations due to side effects:
  • When compared to people receiving vinorelbine + cisplatin, fewer people receiving Taxotere^® + cisplatin needed to stop treatment due to side effects (15.7% vs 22.5%).
• Better performance status in second-line treatment:
  • When compared to people receiving BSC, many people receiving Taxotere^® chemotherapy treatment had less deterioration in their overall health.
• Less weight loss in second-line treatment:
  • 98% of people receiving Taxotere^® chemotherapy treatment did not lose more than 10% of their body weight vs. only 78% of people receiving BSC.

For more information, visit the Taxotere^® Side Effects page in this section.