Tagged with “bevacizumab”

Afinitor Combined with Avastin Promises Help for Advanced Colorectal Cancer

Some colorectal cancer patients whose tumors had gotten worse on all standard treatments benefited from a combination of Afinitor® (everolimus) and Avastin® (bevacizumab) during a small trial reported at the 2010 ASCO Annual meeting in Chicago.

While no tumors got smaller on the treatment, about half of patients in the Phase II trial had their cancer remain stable for six months or more. Three patients have had stable disease for more than a year.

Seven out of ten patients in the trial had at least one serious side effect. The most common was hypertension, but there were several bowel abscesses or fistulas and one case of bowel perforation. There was one death due to treatment infection.

Posted by Kate Murphy on July 6th, 2010
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: Afinitor, ASCO 2010, Avastin, bevacizumab, everolimus, refractory colorectal cancer

Avastin Helps Patients Maintain Chemotherapy Effectiveness

It doesn’t hurt to stop XELOX chemotherapy combined with Avastin after six treatments and continue with Avastin alone until colorectal cancer gets worse, according to a study reported at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

Many patients have to stop oxaliplatin chemotherapy with before getting its maximum effectiveness because of peripheral neuropathy — tingling, numbness, or pain in their hands and feet. Xeloda® (capecitabine) can cause painful skin redness and cracking on the hands and feet or hand-foot syndrome, which can also affect time on chemotherapy.

Giving only six treatments of Avastin® (bevacizumab) plus XELOX chemotherapy and then stopping XELOX and using only Avastin until cancer progressed was as effective for the initial or first-line treatment of colorectal cancer as continuing XELOX. XELOX combines Xeloda® (capecitabine) with oxaliplatin.

In addition, the strategy reduced both severe peripheral neuropathy and hand-foot syndrome.

Posted by Kate Murphy on June 21st, 2010
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: Avastin, bevacizumab, chemotherapy, metastatic colorectal cancer, Xeloda

Continuing Avastin after Colorectal Cancer Gets Worse Increases Survival Time

Colorectal cancer patients benefited when they continued to include Avastin® (bevacizumab) in their chemotherapy plan after their cancer got worse after initial treatment.

They lived longer after beginning a second round of chemotherapy with Avastin than did other patients who got chemo without Avastin or those who didn’t get any chemotherapy at all.

The results are based on the ARIES study which observed patients after cancer progressed after either first or second line chemotherapy with Avastin. The analysis will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on May 25th, 2010
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 1 Comment »
Tags: Avastin, bevacizumab, survival benefit

Avastin Effective for Older Patients

Colorectal cancer patients 65 and older without other serious medical problems benefitted when Avastin® (bevacizumab) was added to chemotherapy.

Combining results of four randomized clinical trials of Avastin and chemotherapy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer, researchers found that adding Avastin increased both the time older patients lived and the time before their cancer got worse.

Patients who were 70 and older had similar improvements. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on November 17th, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: Avastin, bevacizumab, chemotherapy, elderly

C-08 Avastin Trial Didn’t Meet Primary Goal

When Avastin® (bevacizumab) was added to standard chemotherapy after surgery, it didn’t reduce the risk that early stage colon cancer would return, according to a press release this morning from Genentech.

NSABP C-08 randomly assigned patients with stage II or III colon cancer to FOLFOX chemotherapy with or without additional Avastin. During the Phase III clinical trial, all patients received FOLFOX (oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and infused 5-FU) every two weeks for six months. Half also got Avastin with each treatment plus an additional six months of Avastin only.

The study’s primary objective was disease-free survival, defined as lack of recurrence, another new cancer, or death for any reason. According to Genentech, adding Avastin to chemotherapy didn’t do any better job of meeting this goal than chemotherapy alone.

Information from the trial will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting at the beginning of June.

Posted by Kate Murphy on April 22nd, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 1 Comment »
Tags: adjuvant, Avastin, bevacizumab, C-08, Genentech, NSABP