The findings were presented today at the ASCO GI malignancies symposium that disease free survival was improved with oral Xeloda versus conventional intravenous 5FU in patients with early colon cancer. Dr. Daniel Haller from University of Pennsylvania presented the data; he has been working on colon cancer research protocols for many years.

The media perhaps overreacted to the news: headlines such as

Roche drug keeps patients cancer-free longer

and

XELOX improved DFS in patients of all ages with stage III colon cancer

were common today.

It's important to note that the difference in disease free survival did not reach statistical significance, so technically you can't say that one treatment was superior to another at this point.

Also, we should remember that while Xeloda is a more user-friendly form of chemotherapy, it is not universally well-tolerated.  This means that some patients will have significant hand-foot syndrome, and also diarrhea and neuropathy can be problems.  Cold intolerance is common with oxaliplatin, a component of the Xelox regimen.  Also, Xeloda is very expensive, and since it's a prescription pill, not all patients' insurance covers it.

Overall, though, Xeloda is far easier for patients than 5FU by infusion pump, and as Dr. Haller crows, it probably represents a new "standard of care" for patients with early stage colon cancer.  Perhaps we would afford this statement more credibility if Dr. Haller were free of Roche funding (Roche makes Xeloda).  Now if only the drug companies would go for full FDA approval, to streamline insurance coverage for the combination, we would be set.