AZD2171 and Standard Combination Chemotherapy in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer or Colorectal Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:

  * Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), meeting 1 of the following criteria:

    * Stage IIIB disease

      * No pleural effusion and not a candidate for a combined modality treatment
    * Stage IV disease
    * Local or metastatic failure after surgery and/or radiotherapy
  * Colorectal cancer (CRC)

    * Advanced and/or metastatic disease
    * Suitable for first-line therapy with oxaliplatin, leucovorin calcium, and fluorouracil (FOLFOX-6)
* Clinically or radiologically documented disease

  * No tumor marker elevation as sole evidence of disease
* No necrotic/hemorrhagic metastases or tumor
* No untreated brain or meningeal metastases

  * Previously treated, radiologic or clinical evidence of stable brain metastases allowed provided disease is asymptomatic and corticosteroids are not required

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* ECOG performance status 0-2
* Hemoglobin normal
* Absolute granulocyte count ≥ 1,500/mm³
* Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³
* Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) OR creatinine clearance ≥ 50 mL/min
* Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times ULN
* AST or ALT ≤ 2 times ULN (5 times ULN if liver involvement)
* Proteinuria ≤ grade 1
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* No history of other malignancies except adequately treated nonmelanoma skin cancer or other solid tumors curatively treated with no evidence of disease for ≥ 5 years
* No untreated and/or uncontrolled cardiovascular conditions or symptomatic cardiac dysfunction
* No resting blood pressure (BP) consistently higher than systolic BP \> 150 mm Hg and diastolic BP \> 100 mm Hg (in the presence or absence of a stable dose of antihypertensive medication)
* No poorly controlled hypertension, history of labile hypertension, or poor compliance with antihypertensive medication
* No overt bleeding (≥ 30 mL bleeding/episode) within the past 3 months
* No clinically relevant hemoptysis (≥ 5 mL fresh blood) within the past 4 weeks

  * Flecks of blood in sputum allowed
* No active or uncontrolled infections
* No serious illnesses or medical conditions that would preclude compliance with study requirements
* No mean QTc with Bazett's correction \> 470 msec
* No history of familial long QT syndrome
* No peripheral neuropathy \> grade 1
* No dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase deficiency or history of severe hand-foot syndrome after fluoropyrimidines (for patients with CRC)

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics
* Recovered from prior therapy
* At least 6 months since prior adjuvant or neoadjuvant therapy
* At least 6 months since prior adjuvant radiotherapy
* At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas and mitomycin C) (for patients with NSCLC)
* At least 4 weeks since prior and no concurrent corticosteroids
* At least 3 weeks since prior palliative radiotherapy and recovered

  * Concurrent palliative radiotherapy allowed
* At least 2 weeks since prior epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor therapy
* At least 2 weeks since prior major surgery
* No more than 1 prior single-agent, nonplatinum-containing chemotherapy regimen for metastatic disease (for patients with NSCLC)
* No prior gemcitabine hydrochloride (for patients with NSCLC)
* No prior oxaliplatin (for patients with CRC)
* No prior angiogenesis inhibitor
* No prior chemotherapy for advanced/metastatic disease (for patients with CRC)
* No other concurrent experimental drugs or anticancer therapy