A Phase II Clinical, Biological and Pharmacological Study of ZD1839 in Patients With Advanced Colorectal Carcinoma Refractory to 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) and Irinotecan Chemotherapy

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine the progression-free rate at 16 weeks, response rate, time to treatment failure, and survival of patients treated with gefitinib for locally advanced or metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma that is refractory to fluorouracil, irinotecan, and capecitabine.
• Correlate the pharmacodynamic effects of this drug with indices of clinical benefit (e.g., tumor growth inhibition, time to tumor progression, and survival) in these patients.
• Determine whether the status of epidermal growth factor receptor activation and signaling are predictive of clinical outcome in patients treated with this drug.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Patients receive oral gefitinib once daily. Treatment continues every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 18-46 patients will be accrued for this study within 5-12 months.