Efficacy of Quxie Capsule in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Long-Term Survival Update of A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo Controlled Trial

Objective To verify the efficacy of Quxie Capsule in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Methods It was a block randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Sixty patients with mCRC were randomized into 2 groups at a 1:1 ratio. The patients in the treatment group received conventional therapy including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy and supportive care, and Chinese herbal medicine combined with Quxie Capsule (each capsule of 0.4 g was orally administered at 50 mg/kg, twice daily, day 1–20, in a 30-day course) for 3 months. The patients in the control group received conventional therapy and Chinese herbal medicine combined with placebo for 3 months. Main outcome measures were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Subgroup analysis was performed according to therapy lines, right or left-sided colon, targeted therapy and RAS gene status to determine the differences in PFS and OS between the two groups. Patients were followed up every 3 months until December 31st, 2018. Results Median follow-up time was 19.4 months. The median OS was 23.9 months in the treatment group [95% confidence interval (CI) 15.9–28.5] vs. 14.3 months in the control group (95% CI 11.3–21.4, P 0.05). In the subgroups of ⩾second-line therapy, non-targeted therapy, RAS gene wild type and left-sided colon, the treatment group showed a significant survival benefit compared with the control group ( P