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A subgroup analysis of a phase 3 trial suggests that eribulin significantly improves survival outcomes com pared with dacarbazine in patients with pretreated liposarcoma—a softtissue sarcoma subtype with very few efficacious therapies. In a previously published phase 3 trial, eribulin yielded significantly superior overall and progression-free survival outcomes compared with dacarbazine, with an acceptable toxicity profile, in patients with advanced and pretreated leiomyosarcoma and liposarcoma. Now, George Demetri (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA) and colleagues have done a histology-based subgroup analysis of the efficacy and safety of eribulin compared with dacarbazine, further analysing the trial’s results. The subgroup analysis included 143 patients with liposarcoma (32% of the 452 intention-to-treat patients in
the original trial) who were randomly assigned to receive either eribulin (n=71) or dacarbazine (n=72). 65 (46%) patients had dedifferentiated liposarcoma, 55 (39%) had myxoid or round cell liposarcoma, and 23 (16%) had pleomorphic variants of liposarcoma. Significant improvements in survival were noted in patients with all histological variants of liposarcoma receiving eribulin compared with those receiving dacarbazine. Overall survival was 15·6 months (95% CI 10·2–18·6) in the eribulin group versus 8·4 months (5·2–10·1) in the dacarbazine group (hazard ratio [HR] 0·51, 95% CI 0·346–0·573; p
A subgroup analysis of a phase 3 trial suggests that eribulin significantly improves survival outcomes com pared with dacarbazine in patients with pretreated liposarcoma—a softtissue sarcoma subtype with very few efficacious therapies. In a previously published phase 3 trial, eribulin yielded significantly superior overall and progression-free survival outcomes compared with dacarbazine, with an acceptable toxicity profile, in patients with advanced and pretreated leiomyosarcoma and liposarcoma. Now, George Demetri (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA) and colleagues have done a histology-based subgroup analysis of the efficacy and safety of eribulin compared with dacarbazine, further analysing the trial’s results. The subgroup analysis included 143 patients with liposarcoma (32% of the 452 intention-to-treat patients in
the original trial) who were randomly assigned to receive either eribulin (n=71) or dacarbazine (n=72). 65 (46%) patients had dedifferentiated liposarcoma, 55 (39%) had myxoid or round cell liposarcoma, and 23 (16%) had pleomorphic variants of liposarcoma. Significant improvements in survival were noted in patients with all histological variants of liposarcoma receiving eribulin compared with those receiving dacarbazine. Overall survival was 15·6 months (95% CI 10·2–18·6) in the eribulin group versus 8·4 months (5·2–10·1) in the dacarbazine group (hazard ratio [HR] 0·51, 95% CI 0·346–0·573; p
