Adding bevacizumab improves breast cancer survival rates.(Gynecology)

ORLANDO, FLA. -- Adding the antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab to standard chemotherapies for breast cancer produced significant survival gains in a phase III trial reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

The results were hailed both as a step into the mainstream of cancer treatment for targeted agents and as an advance likely to change the standard of care for breast cancer.

Bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody, blocks vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed tumors. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug last year for the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer when used in combination with a chemotherapy regimen consisting of irinotecan plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin.

The antiangiogenic strategy, proposed in 1971 by Judah Folkman, M.D., of Children's Hospital Boston (N. Engl. J. Med. 1971;285:1182-6), was long doubted by many in the oncology community. That began to change in 2003, with the report of a 5-month survival advantage with the addition of bevacizumab to standard therapy for advanced colorectal cancer.

Genentech Inc., the maker of Avastin, supported the study. The company also is supporting clinical trials of the drug in ovarian, renal cell, and other cancers.

In the first interim report from the first trial of an antiangiogenic agent for breast cancer, bevacizumab has so far improved overall survival 33% for patients who received the agent in addition to standard first-line therapy with paclitaxel for locally recurrent or metastatic ...