New Cancer treatment approved

[mpwife1165th]

Although this drug in itself is not a cure - the concept behind this is a new approach to the treatment of cancer. As patients in today's healthcare system it is so important to be an informed consumer.

Thursday, February 26, 2004 Posted: 3:46 PM EST (2046 GMT)


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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government on Thursday approved the first drug that promises to attack cancer by choking off its blood supply, a colon cancer treatment called Avastin.

The drug has only a modest benefit -- it can extend the lives of patients with advanced colon cancer by about five months, the Food and Drug Administration cautioned.

But it's a significant development, because Avastin becomes the first drug proved to work according to a novel theory that tumors must form a network of blood vessels to survive -- and that shutting down that process, called angiogenesis, could fight cancer in a manner completely differently than other treatments.

That theory was pioneered by Harvard University's Dr. Judah Folkman, who made front-page news in 1998 with reports that his anti-angiogenesis drugs had cured mice of cancer. But attempt after attempt to make such drugs work in people failed.

Indeed, the maker of Avastin, Genentech Inc., saw its stock plummet as recently as 2002 when the drug failed to help breast cancer patients.

Then doctors tried Avastin in the sickest of colon cancer patients, those whose cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

In a study of 800 people, half received intravenous Avastin in addition to routine chemotherapy. Not only was tumor growth delayed in those getting Avastin, but the Avastin patients lived about 20 months, five months longer than those getting standard treatment.

In patients that sick, even such a small benefit is considered medically important.

It also marked the first time in three decades of research that an anti-angiogenesis drug was proven to help people.

Avastin is a monoclonal antibody, a substance that seeks out and binds to one of the more 20 chemicals known to help tumors' blood vessels grow. The one Avastin targets is called vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF. When Avastin binds to it, VEGF can't stimulate blood vessel growth, thus keeping tumors from growing by denying them nourishing blood.

Avastin occasionally causes some serious side effects, the FDA cautioned. They include formation of holes in the colon that may require surgery to fix, impaired wound healing and internal bleeding.

More common side effects are high blood pressure, fatigue, blood clots, diarrhea, appetite loss and increased risk of infection because of decreased white blood cells.

[odannyboy]

Originally Posted by mpwife1165th

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government on Thursday approved the first drug that promises to attack cancer by choking off its blood supply, a colon cancer treatment called Avastin.

The drug has only a modest benefit -- it can extend the lives of patients with advanced colon cancer by about five months, the Food and Drug Administration cautioned.

But it's a significant development, because Avastin becomes the first drug proved to work according to a novel theory that tumors must form a network of blood vessels to survive -- and that shutting down that process, called angiogenesis, could fight cancer in a manner completely differently than other treatments.

Finally, at least something to treat the effects of Cancer beside bombarding the body with radiation or chemotherapy.
Hopefully this will lead to new advancements in the war on cancer.

[Wyvern75]

It is nice to see some new drugs. My onocologist hasn't used Avastin on anyone yet. She is still looking at the results and none of her patients "qualify" for it yet.

The radiation, chemotherapy and surgery on my colon/rectal cancer was pretty bad. And I am still not feeling well. But then it hasn't been a year yet. (well today is a year since I started the radiation and initial chemo.

I am curious as to what the Avastin side effects are. At the stage they are testing/using it on, anything could be better. The 5FU and Lavastin really sucked and they wiped out most of my red and white blood cells.

The radiation, sucked after it was over with. Well towards the end (figuratively and literally) it was causing a lot of pain, but then the tumor wasn't happy.

[Woodmonkey]

thanks for this post and the links. I'm going to pass them along.

[Wyvern75]

Well apparently my colon cancer has spread, to the outer layers of the lungs, a malignant tumor on each lung.

The Drs are talking surgery (almost like open heart) or a new procedure, Radio Frequency Ablation, where they use a needle to "burn" it out. They have used this on liver tumors, but as lungs move, this is considered "experimental". My Onocologist is also looking to see if I would qualify for the Avastin, even though I am not on the last 6 or so months of my life (at least they haven't told me that yet).

With a little luck, I will get the RFA soon and the Avastin would be used to kill small cells (if there are any).