Campto® – Strategies for Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy of Colorectal Cancer

Introduction: Clinical studies performed in the USA and Europe within the past 3 years have shown that the combination chemotherapy regimen of CPT-11 (Campto®, irinotecan) plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and folinic acid (FA) achieves a significantly better response and survival than 5-FU/FA alone in patients with metastatic or progressive colorectal cancer [5, 20]. In light of these findings, other interesting indications for CPT-11 + 5- FU/FA in colorectal cancer are now being researched. Because of its proven high antitumor activity, as reflected by response rates of 49–75% [5, 11, 20, 21], this combination chemotherapy regimen holds promise for other indications, especially adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy.