Key clinical point: Pre-emptive oral treatment with clarithromycin (CAM) together with relatively simple skin care effectively suppressed the development of panitumumab-induced grade 2 or more skin toxicities in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).
Major finding: Grade 2 or more skin toxicities within the first 6 weeks were 68% lower in the group receiving CAM in combination with skin care vs only skin care (hazard ratio, 0.32; P less than .001). Rates of other adverse events were not different between the groups; however, grade 3 or more diarrhea was higher in patients receiving CAM (8.0% vs 1.3%).
Study details: Findings are from a phase 3 study involving 156 patients with mCRC treated with panitumumab who were randomly assigned to either pre-emptive antibiotic treatment with CAM through the panitumumab treatment in combination with skin care or control regimen consisting of only skin care.
Disclosures: No source of funding was declared. The authors declared no competing interests.
Source: Nagata K et al. Int J Colorectal Dis. 2021 Aug 3. doi: 10.1007/s00384-021-04002-9 .