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Subscribe to RSSTwo studies out Wednesday show that Avastin, a drug that is already approved for other cancers -- but is also controversial -- could help women buy more time in the battle with ovarian cancer. More from NBC's Chief Science Correspondent Robert Bazell.
Karen Rowan
MyHealthNewsDaily
For women with advanced cases of ovarian cancer, the drug Avastin adds about four months to the time it takes for the cancer to worsen, according to a new report.
Patients treated with Avastin in addition to chemotherapy had about 14 months before their advanced ovarian cancer progressed, compared to about 10 months for those in the study who were treated with chemotherapy and a placebo.
An early analysis of the trial's results was presented in June 2010 at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology; the complete report from the trial appeared Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
This was the third clinical trial to show that adding Avastin to standard chemotherapy treatments extends the time before ovarian cancers progress, said Dr. Carol Aghajanian, chief of gynecologic medical oncology service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
"This is good news for women with ovarian cancer," said Aghajanian, who was not involved in the new study.
However, women treated with Avastin did not live any longer than other women in the study, according to the report.
The European Commission approved Avastin as a treatment for ovarian cancer this month, but it is unclear whether the drug will be approved to treat this cancer in the United States, Aghajanian said. The Food and Drug Administration will be looking at the data.
The drug, made by pharmaceutical company Genentech, is designed to inhibit the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. It is currently approved to treat certain types of colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers, while the FDA recently disallowed its use for breast cancer.
Preventing cancer from worsening
The new report is based on 1,873 ovarian cancer patients who had been assigned at random to three groups. One received chemotherapy treatments along with a placebo; one received Avastin (generically known as bevacizumab) along with chemotherapy at the start of their treatment, then received only chemotherapy for the rest of their treatment; the third group received Avastin along with chemotherapy for the entirety of their treatment. The patients did not know which treatment they were receiving; neither did the doctors treating them.
The researchers measured the blood levels of a marker called CA-125 to determine whether the patients' cancers were progressing. CA-125 levels are a very early marker of worsening cancer, Aghajanian said. Levels of CA-125 begin to rise before a growing cancer is visible on a CT scan.
"They used a very conservative method of measuring progression, so we can be certain that it's meaningful," Aghajanian said.
Whether Avastin could extend patients' lives is a tricky question to try to answer with studies, Aghajanian said. At the end of this trial, for example, the patients and their doctors were told whether they had received Avastin or the placebo treatment, and it was entirely possible that those who had been on the placebo then received Avastin, she explained. Such a crossover in treatments after a study's conclusion would make it difficult to later determine whether patients who received a drug during a trial lived longer.
Avastin and breast cancer
There are important differences between the studies of Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer and the studies of its use for ovarian cancer, Aghajanian said.
In November the FDA revoked its approval of Avastin to treat breast cancer because studies showed that breast cancer patients treated with it did not live any longer, and faced significant risks of severe side effects such as small holes developing in the intestines. The drug had been cleared by the FDA in February 2008 under an "accelerated approval" process based on promising early studies, allowing Avastin to be used for breast cancer patients while Genentech did further research.
"There was not a consistent benefit seen in the breast cancer studies," Aghajanian said. By contrast, three studies of the drug's use in ovarian cancer showed a consistent benefit.
The safety of the drug as seen in the new study "was reassuring," Aghajanian said, as was the finding that patients taking the drug reported no difference in their quality of life from patients receiving the placebo.
The rate of patients who developed gastrointestinal perforations was twice as high among those who received Avastin as among those who received a placebo, but the rate was still under 3 percent.
Elevated blood pressure was seen in more patients who received Avastin throughout the study than in those who received the drug only at the beginning or not at all.
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Leave a Comment:
Avastin may slow the progress of some forms of cancer, but at what cost? My husband took it when he was first diagnosed with kidney cancer. One instance in which I can tell you the "cure" was worse than the "ill". It made him deathly ill and wishing he was dead.
If anyone is given this option, make sure you are aware of exactly what you are getting into. Four short months may not be worth the agony......
I too just went threw this cancer thing with my long time girl. I'm now a believer that this is a money maker. 3 weeks before Debbie died, the Dr. told her that the tumors were shrinking. Some higher powers need to take a close look at this hole situation.
None of these companies want a cure for cancer. Why would they when they can make so much more money treating a disease. Cancer is man made and anyone who disagrees with that statement can prove me wrong if they can explain why cancer is so scarcely found in mummy's and so abundantly found in industrialized societies .http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39687039/ns/health-cancer/t/cancer-man-made-disease-controversial-study-claims/ The bottom line is keep your immune system strong, the cancer rates skyrocket with age because the older you get the weaker your immune system gets. People are letting their immune systems get so weak they get sick and die from eating raw vegetables. Eat more raw food. Eat more organic food. People who think pesticides and petroleum based fertilizers are harmless watch too much TV. Minimize your stress, stress is a killer. Get off the couch.
man made? no. man didn't make cancer and give it to people. The things man makes affect our cells and change them to cancer.
What happened? Ran out of cliches, platitudes, and pseudo-science quotes? Or are you just up way past your bedtime. Thought you might get a good, pointless rant really going there, but it looks like you ran out of gas.
Uh, people who are mummified did not live that long. The average life expectancy at that time
was probably 30 - at most 40 years old.
Thought you were going to give a different cause for the disease; you just defined 'man made'
Yourmommadidraiseafool, What did I say that is wrong? Oh right you criticize what other people say without offering anything that contributes to the discussion. Pesticides and petroleum based fertilizers are not good for humans. If you spray something on your food that kills insects what do you think it does to humans? SGal-105 how many young people have you heard of with cancer? From 1973 to 1998 the number of young people with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma jumped almost 83% each year!! http://www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=chKOI6PEImE&b=1573333 You can't discount the overwhelming body of evidence because the life expectancy was different. Some of the mummies checked had lived long enough to develop osteoporosis. This isn't sudo-science, it is real statistics and denial is killing real Americans.
Probably a trillion dollars has gone into research of cancer or cancer related ailments and this is what we have. Looks like good old 12th century surgery is still the answer. And doctors don't know much more than their 19th century counterparts. And while no cure is on the horizon for many of them, the drug companies are still pumping out their placebos, hoping for a cure, sometime in the year 3040. Buy drug company stock, it's a good bet against yourself.
Believe me you you would spend your last penny not to see your loved one waste away in your arms.
Whenever someone begins their argument with "probably", it does not pay to read past that word. You have proven this point again. Thank you for playing. Next.
Yes, do not waste your money for the so-called cancer research which just cooks out more 'combination' poison to feed your sick body. Use it to eat healthy and live better before cancer strikes you, if it should. It's like what they say about cold cures; with all the poisons pumped into you, you live so long, determined by the stage the cancer is in when detected, without it, you live just so long (possibly in much less pain).
#3.2 - I guess, you didn't read the article then - or do you like it better when someone says, with all the certainty, something they do not know? When someone sets out to criticize other's comments rather than make a comment on the actual article, it is not worth typing it up wasting space, let alone be read by others.
My Mother has been on this very treatment for 8 months. Her cancer is neither growing or receding. She is now in a Skilled nursing facility because of on of the side effects that was never listed on the treatment papers. Her brain has swollen and her memory,talking and cognitive skills have all been affected by this drug. It may have given her a few more months but at what cost? Her having to live those months in a nursing home mad at us children because in her mind we put her there not the oncologist or the drug.
I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I empathize with you as my mother-in-law is 'recovered' from advanced stage 3 breast cancer and my own mom has been dealing with bladder cancer. It won't kill her necessarily but the only way to cure it is removing the bladder. She's going on 60 and said she isn't going out pissing in a bag.
That being said - the memory, cognitive effects, and brain swelling are actually well known side effects - some doctors tell you, others don't. It's still very well known though. It's called chemobrain. The chemo drugs turn parts of your brain into mush. The neurons are still alive and active but the pathways are broken since the synapses and dendrites are destroyed. Also chemo can strip the myelin sheath causing neural disorders in other parts of the body like vision and hearing loss.
How about making these judgements when you are diagnosed with cancer !
My heart goes out to all cancer patients and their care givers. I can't understand why we haven't made more progress in the diagnoses and treatment of this disease.
Oh my gosh, another fake study!! How can anyone prove that some dangerous drug delays death by a few months. I am sick of non-stop stories that are ludicrous at best!
Translation: I really don't know what on earth I am talking about, but I will nonetheless vomit forth nonsensical drivel in some bizarre hope that it will persuade someone to forego medical treatment. Yeah, we gotcha.
My sense is that the last thing research scientists want is a cure for cancer. It would put them out of work, and many have been "researching cancer" their whole lives.
Everyone one is not promised a tomorrow and if I was dX'd with cancer I would probably try the chem if i was in stage 1 or 2 but in stage 4 no I would not. I have seen many of my family members go through pure hell while on chemo. I believe in quality instead of quantity. yes maybe it gave me a little more time but time for what going in for more chemo and being sick and not being able to do the things I love to do with my family no way. My Mother has not been able to come and see me in over 3 years. She had just retired the previous year then she was dx'd. And she has not been able to get out and enjoy anything. just more chemo and now a nursing home . I could not do that.
I will guarantee you that if you get to any stage of cancer, you will do something other than nothing, and if that includes chemo as your only and last option, you will take it. I just love people who make statements like these. "Yeah, if I ever encountered a helpless man being beaten on the street, I'd kick those punks butts". No, you would not. You would run the other way, while averting your eyes. Maybe five miles away you'd call 911.
Mymomdidnotraiseafool: Some people are able to decide what they will and will not do ahead of times, others aren't. It just depends on the person. When my cousin died from leukemia at 16 years old, he told his parents he didn't want any treatment for it again (he had been in remission). His parents discussed it with the doctors, him and between themselves - they opted to honor his request to not undergo anymore treatment. Another one of my cousins was diagnosed with lymphoma (I don't remember which stage - but it was a later stage). He had watched his mother go through the treatments. He made the decision to not receive treatments because he had seen what his mother went through. Like my other cousin, he also died. I've also had other families members opt to fight their cancer - some successfully, some not.
Some people are able to decide they wouldn't want treatment ahead of time - some stick with that decision, some change their minds. Others know they would want the maximum treatment available.
It's rather arrogant to claim you would know what another person would do - especially a person you've never met.
All cancer treatments are poison and meant to take every last dollar you have - the best treatment is no treatment. The medical and pharmaceutical companies know this, which is why a cure for cancer will never be found - way too much money to be stolen from people who work hard all their lives. If God is going to take me, then I'm ready when the time comes.....and prayerfully, there will be a little left over to plant me in the ground and give my heirs something.
"The best treatment is no treatment"? This is perhaps the most idiotic statement I have read on this subject so far. Tell you what pal, let me know how you actually respond when your doctor says you have a highly aggressive form of cancer, and if you don't treat it, you'll likely be gone in a year of two, but if you do treat it, you may get three, or five, or more. Then you can tell us how you'd react, not before. I'm amazed at all the blowhards here who assert that they would never subject themselves to treatment that would not let them live their lives exactly as they had been before diagnosis, when the truth is the vast majority will cry like little girls, and take any drug the doctor recommends, just so they can live another month typing on forums about how they will react to the next piece of bad news. Baloney!
No Mam I will not take it. I will not leave my family with a load of unpaid bills they can not afford lady. I have a son with Autism and they need that for him . Unlike you I am not a selfish person. I consider myself self less.
My wife had ovarion cancer 3 years ago. They said she was cured not in remission 12 months ago after alot of medicine that made her sick and cost a fortune. She is now in the final days of secondary liver cancer because the medice only hid the symptoms........ Western Medicine is a joke for cancers. It's all about the money.....Good luck, I'm pissed.........
My teenage son was diagnosed with testicular cancer this year. He went through surgery and 3 rounds of chemo. His treatment has a 95% cure rate. Doctors and reseachers aren't perfect. (by the way my nephew is a researcher) but I thank God for them. 30 years ago you would have died from most cancers. Don't get me wrong I know these drug companies are getting rich but I am so thankful for the drugs no matter the cost.
Hey Leolady! I also have Kidney cancer, @ stage 4, I almost bit the dust, But! I take the wonder drug "Afinitor" if you're doctor has not talked to you about Afinitor, then get another doctor, or at least get another opinion from an unrelated oncologist.
Afinitor is probably the biggest cancer breakthrough ever, and I can attest it WORKS! some oncs, are skeptical about it because it is nothing like traditional chemo, other oncs, don't like it because it is just a pill, and their services are not really needed, (therefore they lose money in prescribing it) Afinitor has a 75% recovery rate at even the latest stages of the disease, the highest of any chemo cancer treament.
And! it is a pill! just a pill, no port, no wires, no trips to the onc. and very little sickness, I didn't lose my hair, I didn't turn grey, I am not queezy or dazed, the only thing is that I am tired, but not all day, mornings are great until about 2 or 3 then I need a nap.
But most of all dear it does work, my first pet lit up like a christmas tree, a year later I have two tiny spots left, Please, for life's sake, get Afinitor.
And God bless you.
If you don't have cancer, then shut up!
Very obvious from the responses that each person must make their own decision and choices of treatments, if any. We are fortunate to be able to do just that. After seeing my mother through a 14 yr. stage 4 breast cancer battle, I know my choices would be very different than hers. I just wish oncologists and/or other specialists would be more forthright about treatment options, side effects, and life expectancy. We made decisions based on information provided and later discovered we were not fully informed. This applies to every specialty, recent events with my mother-in-law resulted in the same experience and she had heart disease.
I would be very wary of any oncologist who used the word "cure". Most people believe "cure" to mean there will never be a recurrence, in my experience, any stage higher than zero has resulted in the cancer re-occurring over the course of 10 years.
There are a thousands kinds of cancer, some so rare they don't even have a treatment protocol. Many are now managed like a chronic illness with very long term survival rates. New discoveries will be made all the time though I don't believe there will ever be a cure.
Wishing all you survivors great success with treatment and as few side effects as possible.
use flax seed oil and ground flax seed mixed with cottage cheese,think this is crazy,research dr budwig and find out!!!,use coral calcium or oyster shell calcium with vitamin d,cancer cells cannot live in non acidic enviroment!! use apple cider vinegar,it is the staffof life,pure unpasturized apple cider vinegar,prefer dr braggs,fruits and vegetables cut out red meat,foul and fish okay providing not to much mercury ,use these things and see a difference!!! They do not want a cure to much money being made!!!!!! Evil greedy bastards!!!!
Last year, at the age of 57, my mother was diagnosed with stage III ovarian cancer. After a successful surgery to remove all major tumors along with a complete hysterectomy, she became part of an Avastin study, although I do not know if it is the one mentioned in this article. She received 6 months of the "standard of care" chemo course with the Avastin added. Once the standard chemo was over, she continued to receive only the Avastin for a number of months. She responded beautifully. It was a difficult decision to go into the Avastin study, we knew ALL of the potential side effects up front and they did sound scary, but she opted for it anyway. All our fears of the side effects were UNFOUNDED. NO high blood pressure, NO intestinal distress of any kind, NO increased nausea, NOTHING outside of what you would see with "standard" chemo (increased fatigue, metallic taste in mouth, lack of appetite mainly because of the taste thing). She had a normal, active summer on the beaches of Lake Michigan with her granddaughter. She has no evidence of cancer to this day (can't be called remission until you hit a certain time with no evicence of cancer). She is GLAD she was part of the study and has NO regrets.
I'm not saying everyone will react this way to Avastin, but with ALL DRUGS (even aspirin) everybody reacts differently. THE TREATMENT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE WORSE THAN THE DISEASE!! Be a responsible patient! Be a responsible care giver! Discuss ALL your options and do your research, and if you try something and you don't think it's working out, TRY SOMETHING ELSE.
While there is still much to learn from research, cancer drugs of this class are very promising. And while many people can sling the nasty comments about diet, lifestyle, WHATEVER is the cause of cancers, there still are NO GUARANTEES in this world. If that day comes, those people will still fight by whatever means necessary, including, I would bet,some form of chemo. So spout out all you want now, but you never know intil you have to make your own life or death decisions.
Just another thing to let the poor drug companies that George Bush saved by having the government pay their prices not having people go to Canada to save!