Data fails to support routine use of doxorubicin and ifosfamide combination for soft tissue sarcoma

Survival data from the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group presented at ESMO 2012 Presidential Symposium was received with great interest. This was a randomized phase 3 trial (EORTC 62012), designed to evaluate single agent doxorubicin versus doxorubicin plus ifosfamide as first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma. Professor Winette van der Graaf from Nijmegen, The Netherlands, explained that “the study was initiated to address concerns that previous studies comparing these agents in soft tissue sarcomas had used suboptimal doses of ifosfamide”, adding that “non-randomized data had suggested that a higher dose of this drug could increase response rate and progression-free survival”. Read more here.