Erbitux (cetuximab) 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.
Cetuximab 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 cetuximab, your specialist will test your cancer cells to see if they contain either the normal (wild-type) or mutant forms of genes called RAS.
Cetuximab is used to treat patients who express normal (wild-type) RAS genes.
Is Erbitux available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) as a subsidised treatment?
- Erbitux 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.
- Erbitux 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 Vectibix (panitumumab) are not eligible to receive PBS-subsidised Erbitux. Patients who have developed intolerance to Vectibix of a severity necessitating permanent treatment withdrawal are eligible to receive PBS-subsidised Erbitux.
Download the Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) for Erbitux.
