• Bevacizumab in combination with cis/pem significantly increased PFS (9.59 versus 7.48 months) and OS (18.82 versus 16.07 months) compared to cis/pem alone.
• The addition of bevacizumab did not result in a detrimental effect on quality of life despite higher toxicity.

The MAPS study is a large, randomized Phase II/III effort that demonstrated a modest improvement in PFS and OS with the addition of bevacizumab to the current standard systemic treatment for mesothelioma, cis/pem. The benefit observed is similar to that seen with this anti-VEGF antibody in metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung. As such, Dr Spigel believes this agent and combination are likely to be approved for use and incorporated into clinical practice, which is important in that few new approaches have recently become available for this uncommon thoracic cancer.