Dr. Gary Schwartz on the Survival Benefit of Eribulin In Sarcoma

Gary Schwartz, MD, a medical oncologist and chief of the Hematology and Oncology Division at Columbia University Medical Center, discusses a randomized phase III trial investigating eribulin (Halaven) versus dacarbazine in patients with leiomyosarcoma and adipocytic sarcomas.

Eribulin lengthened survival by eight weeks compared to dacarbazine, which is significant in sarcoma, a disease that has never had a survival benefit from a novel therapy, says Schwartz.

Median overall survival for eribulin and dacarbazine was 13.5 and 11.5 months, respectively (HR = 0.768, 95% CI 0.618—0.954; P= 0.017). Progression-free survival was 2.6 months in both arms (HR = 0.877, 95% CI 0.710–1.085; P= 0.229).

Eribulin is approved to treat metastatic breast cancer. This study represents one of the first times it has been investigated in sarcoma.