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Immunotoxins: The Next Generation

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New Cancer-Related Mutations Found in Breast & Colon Cancers

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Panitumumab approved for metastatic colorectal carcinoma

Bevacizumab use expanded to lung cancer

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Reviews & Reports

Bevacizumab Use Expanded to Lung Cancer

Reviewed by Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD

In early October 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration approved bevacizumab to be used in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Median survival of patients treated with bevacizumab plus chemotherapy was 12.3 months, compared to 10.3 months for patients treated with chemotherapy alone.

The approval was based on results from E4599, a randomized, controlled, multicenter trial that enrolled 878 patients with unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic non-squamous NSCLC. The most common grade 3-5 (severe) adverse events in E4599 seen in bevacizumab-treated patients were neutropenia, fatigue, hypertension, infection, and hemorrhage. Patients receiving bevacizumab plus paclitaxel and carboplatin had a 25% improvement in overall survival, the trial's primary endpoint, compared to patients who received chemotherapy alone (based on a hazard ratio of 0.80). One-year survival was 51% in the bevacizumab arm versus 44% in the chemotherapy-alone arm. Median survival of patients treated with bevacizumab plus chemotherapy was 12.3 months, compared to 10.3 months for patients treated with chemotherapy alone.

Bevacizumab is available as Avastin from Genentech, Inc. Additional information about the drug is available at www.gene.com/gene/products/information/oncology/avastin/index.jsp.