This week two studies released in New England Journal of Medicine suggested that Avastin drug may helpful to some patients of Ovarian Cancer, these studies identified that including Avastin to the on going chemotherapy treatment can idle the growth of Ovarian Cancer around four months. These studies provided a breakthrough on the treatment of Ovarian Cancer.
Ovarian Cancer is one of the deadliest cancers for the women and it is the fifth most common cancer in United Statesman around 15,000 women die each year with this cancer alone in United States, according to the National Cancer Institute. This is because it remains undetected until its last stages.
Avastin or called Bevacizumab in pharmaceutical prevents the development of vessels which feeds cancer tumors, but it is still in research either the life of patient will increases or not with Avastin. It is also approved by FDA for the treatment of Cancer, such as Brain tumor, Kidney and other cancer. Avastin was first approved for treatment of Breast Cancer in 2006 but on November 2011, FDA withdraws its approval due to the high rate of side effects.
These both studies were funded by the producer of Avastin, Roche Pharmaceuticals. The first study was conducted by Gynecological Oncology Group which surveyed about 1,873 women around the world of those who had been diagnosed recently with stage III or stage IV of Ovarian Cancer. It was identified that woman who had chemotherapy with Avastin found nearly idle state of cancer growth for a period of four months. Dr. Robert Burger, leader of this study said.” “This is a new paradigm in the treatment of this disease,” says Burger. He says that patients with Stage III or IV ovarian cancer “deserve to have this treatment as an option.”
The other study conducted by International Collaboration on Ovarian Cancer, which surveyed around 1,500 women who were on starting stages of ovarian cancer. This study found that the development of cancer was idle for two months half of those who are on III and IV stages of Ovarian Cancer. It is now confirmed by the study that Avastin reduced the growth of Ovarian Cancer, but still researchers are on dark side that how long it can increase the life of patients.
Patients of both studies did have some side effects such as Gastrointestinal wall tearing and hypertension. Dr. Joanne Mortimer says, “I think this data is compelling. Improved control of disease is always a good endpoint, but living longer is a better endpoint”. European Commission also approved Avastin for the treatment of Ovarian Cancer.
