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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 a WHO performance status of 0 or 1 and previously untreated RAS wild-type metastatic bowel cancer, who does not have progressive disease.
- Erbitux is PBS-subsidised as monotherapy or in combination with first-line chemotherapy, of a patient with a WHO performance status of 2 or less and 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 panitumumab are not eligible to receive PBS-subsidised cetuximab. Patients who have developed intolerance to panitumumab of a severity necessitating permanent treatment withdrawal are eligible to receive PBS-subsidised cetuximab.
