Targeted therapies in the treatment of colorectal cancer: what managed care needs to know.

OBJECTIVE: This review is designed to explore the disease, its current treatment, the expanding field of antiangiogenic treatments, and the implications of these advances for the managed care patient. DATA SOURCES: This article is based, in part, on presentations given by the authors in a continuing education symposium presented during the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.s 16th Annual Meeting and Showcase, April 1, 2004, in San Francisco.
CONCLUSIONS: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the United States, and the second-leading non.gender-specific cause of cancer deaths. If the cancer is caught soon enough (before node involvement and metastasis occur), there is a strong chance of survival; however, only slightly more than one third of cases are detected that soon. Emerging treatments that target only the cancer cells are increasing the length of survival for those who are diagnosed at later stages of the disease.