Senator Edward Kennedy was diagnosed last year with brain cancer called glioma. GBM is the most advanced of this type of brain cancer.

The FDA reported yesterday:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved Avastin (bevacizumab) to treat patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) when this form of brain cancer continues to progress following standard therapy.

GBM is a rapidly progressing cancer that invades brain tissue and can impact physical activities and mental abilities. It affects about 6,700 persons in the United States every year. Following initial treatment with surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy, the cancer nearly always returns.

“This type of cancer is very resistant to therapy and thus challenging to treat,” said Richard Pazdur, M.D., director of the Office of Oncology Drug Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Avastin provides a therapy for patients with progressive GBM who have not responded to other medications.”

Avastin is a laboratory-produced molecule known as a monoclonal antibody that mimics the antibodies produced by the body’s immune system to defend against harmful substances. The medication inhibits the action of vascular endothelial growth factor that helps form new blood vessels. These vessels can feed a tumor, helping it to grow and can also provide a pathway for cancer cells to circulate in the body.

The drug was first approved in 2004 to treat metastatic cancer of the colon or rectum and has since been approved for treatment of non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic breast cancer.

In two clinical trials, about 25 percent of patients with GBM responded to Avastin with an average duration of response of about four months.

The most serious side effects associated with Avastin, in some cases resulting in death, are gastrointestinal perforation, wound healing complications, hemorrhage, and blood clots. Other serious side effects of Avastin are severe high blood pressure, nervous system and vision disturbances, decreased white blood cell counts, infection, stroke, myocardial infarction, and kidney problems.

The most common adverse reactions were nose bleeds, headache, high blood pressure, runny nose, excess proteins in the urine, taste alteration, dry skin, rectal bleeding, excessive tearing, and skin peeling.

It’s always good news when a medication already available is found to be helpful in other areas too. Let’s hope that this is great news for some people who are now going to get the chance to receive this treatment.

~~~~

Image: Newscom

Post from: Blisstree

FDA Approves Avastin for Brain Cancer

Now, a new study found that bevacizumab may have the potential to improve the efficacy of standard combination chemotherapy in ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer or cancer of the ovary is the fifth most common cancer in women and I reckon one of the deadliest.

Almost 70% of ovarian cancer patients fail to win against the disease despite chemotherapy.

According to Dr. Bram Goldstein, co-author of the study, whose findings are published in Vol. 17 Issue 4 of International Journal of Gynecological Cancer:

“The results from our research suggest that the combination of Bevacizumab and standard therapy for the treatment of ovarian cancer may be promising, particularly with regard to safety and efficacy.”

Bevacizumab is commercially sold as Avastin® – a product of Genentech.

More details from Science Daily.

Post from: Blisstree

Bevacizumab Improves Ovarian Cancer Treatment

Such is the finding of a Duke University Medical Center pilot study in which the researchers tested the effectiveness of Avastin in conjunction with a standard chemotherapy agent in patients with recurrent cancerous brain tumors called gliomas.

…found that the two drugs together halted tumor growth up to twice as long as comparative therapies.

Though gliomas remain incurable in nearly all cases, the combined drug therapy may buy precious time and preserve physical and mental function longer for patients facing this grim diagnosis.

Avastin, a product of Genentech, is new type of drug that shrinks cancerous tumors by cutting off their blood supply.

Find more details from the full report.

Post from: Blisstree

Lung and Colorectal Cancers Drug Avastin: Found to Extend Survival in Patients with Deadly Gliomas

The Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) has applauded the USFDA on its recent approval of Avastin (bevacizumab) for the most common type of lung cancer.

Laurie Fenton, President of Lung Cancer Alliance in Washington, D.C. stated:

“Lung cancer is responsible for over one-third of all U.S. cancer deaths, killing more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver and kidney cancers combined each year.

Sadly, we have few arrows in our treatment quiver to address this lethal killer. That is why the ability to use Avastin as a treatment method, along with chemotherapy, is a significant development for the lung cancer community.”

Manufactured by Genentech, Inc. (NYSE: DNA), Avastin is specifically approved for initial treatment of non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy for patients not eligible for surgery, or have locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic NSCLC.

The approval was based on studies where Avastin demonstrated extended survival time to 12.3 months, longer than with chemotherapy alone.

Read more at PR Newswire.

Post from: Blisstree

Lung Cancer Alliance Hailed USFDA on Approval of Avastin (bevacizumab) for NSCLC