Vectibix (panitumumab) is used as a first or second-line treatment option for patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-expressing, RAS wild-type metastatic bowel cancer in combination with chemotherapy.
Vectibix can also be given as a single agent in patients who have failed or are intolerant to oxaliplatin-based therapy and irinotecan-based therapy.
Before you are prescribed panitumumab, your specialist will test your cancer cells to see if they contain either the normal (wild-type) or mutant forms of genes called RAS.
Panitumumab is used to treat patients who express normal (wild-type) RAS genes.
Is Vectibix available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) as a subsidised treatment?
- Vectibix is PBS-subsidised as a treatment in combination with first-line chemotherapy of a patient with RAS wild-type metastatic bowel cancer who does not have progressive disease.
- Vectibix is PBS-subsidised as monotherapy or in combination with an irinotecan based therapy, of a patient with RAS wild-type metastatic bowel cancer after failure to respond to first-line chemotherapy.
- The treatment must be the sole PBS-subsidised anti-EGFR antibody therapy for this condition. Patients who have progressive disease on Erbitux (cetuximab) are not eligible to receive PBS-subsidised Vectibix. Patients who have developed intolerance to Erbitux of a severity necessitating permanent treatment withdrawal are eligible to receive PBS-subsidised Vectibix.
Download the Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) for Vectibix.
