Avastin

Product Overview

About Avastin

The most common side effects with Avastin are hypertension (high blood pressure), tiredness or asthenia (weakness), diarrhoea and abdominal (belly) pain. The most serious side effects are gastrointestinal perforation (hole in the gut wall), haemorrhage (bleeding) and arterial thromboembolism (blood clots in the arteries). For the full list of all side effects reported with Avastin, see the package leaflet. Avastin must not be used in people who are hypersensitive (allergic) to bevacizumab or any of the other ingredients, to Chinese hamster ovary cell products or other recombinant antibodies. It must not be given to pregnant women.

What it is used for

Avastin is a cancer medicine used to treat adults with the following types of cancer, in combination with other cancer medicines: cancer of the colon (large intestine) or rectum that is metastatic (has spread to other parts of the body), in combination with chemotherapy medicines that include a ‘fluoropyrimidine’; metastatic breast cancer, in combination with paclitaxel or capecitabine; advanced non-small cell lung cancer in patients whose cancer cells are not mainly of the squamous type, where it is given with platinum-based chemotherapy; advanced non-small cell lung cancer in patients whose cancer cells have a certain change (‘activating mutations’) in the gene for a protein called EGFR, where it is given in combination with erlotinib; advanced or metastatic kidney cancer, in combination with interferon alfa-2a; epithelial cancer of the ovary, cancer of the fallopian tube (that connect the ovaries to the womb) or the peritoneum (the membrane lining the abdomen). Avastin is used in combination with certain chemotherapy medicines in newly diagnosed patients when the cancer is advanced, or in previously treated patients whose cancer has come back (recurrent). cancer of the cervix (the neck of the womb) that is persistent, recurrent or metastatic. Avastin is given in combination with paclitaxel and either the platinum-based medicine cisplatin or, if this cannot be used, another chemotherapy medicine, topotecan.

How it is used

Avastin can only be obtained with a prescription and treatment should be supervised by a doctor who has experience in the use of cancer treatments. Avastin is available as a concentrate that is made up into a solution for infusion (drip) into a vein. The first infusion of Avastin should last 90 minutes, but subsequent infusions may be given more quickly if the first infusion is tolerated well. The dose is between 5 and 15 mg per kilogram body weight every two or three weeks, depending on the type of cancer being treated. The treatment is continued until the patient no longer benefits from it. The doctor may decide to interrupt or stop treatment if the patient develops certain side effects.

How it works

The active substance in Avastin, bevacizumab, is a monoclonal antibody (a type of protein) that has been designed to recognise and attach to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a protein that circulates in the blood and makes blood vessels grow. By attaching to VEGF, Avastin stops it having an effect. As a result, the cancer cells cannot develop their own blood supply and are starved of oxygen and nutrients, helping to slow down the growth of tumours.

Active substance: bevacizumab

Source: EMA EPAR