Erbitux (Cetuximab) Given Alone to Patients With EGFR-Negative Metastatic Colon or Rectal Cancer That is Refractory to Chemotherapy

This is a phase II, multicenter, open-label study of cetuximab in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) negative, metastatic colorectal carcinoma who have progressed after receiving at least one standard chemotherapeutic regimen that included a fluoropyrimidine. Target enrollment is 80 evaluable patients. Patients with EGFR-negative metastatic colorectal carcinoma who have progressed after receiving at least one standard chemotherapeutic regimen that included a fluoropyrimidine, will receive an initial dose of cetuximab, 400 mg/m2 , intravenously (i.v.) over 120 minutes, followed by weekly treatment with cetuximab, 250 mg/m2 i.v. over 60 minutes. Patients who experience unacceptable toxicity or who have progressive disease (PD) will not receive further cetuximab therapy. Patients will be evaluated for a tumor response at a minimum of every 6 weeks while on cetuximab therapy. Patients with stable disease (SD), partial response (PR), or a complete response (CR) may continue to receive weekly cetuximab therapy, unless they are dose-delayed or discontinued because of toxicity. Patients who have a PR or CR must have a confirmatory tumor assessment no less than 4 weeks after the initial evaluation demonstrating a response. To evaluate the objective response rate, a single-stage design will be used in this study.