Avastin News and Research

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Avastin is a biologic antibody designed to specifically bind to a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) that plays an important role throughout the lifecycle of the tumor to develop and maintain blood vessels, a process known as angiogenesis. Avastin is designed to interfere with the blood supply to a tumor by directly binding to the VEGF protein to prevent interactions with receptors on blood vessel cells. Avastin does not bind to receptors on normal or cancer cells. The tumor blood supply is thought to be critical to a tumor’s ability to grow and spread in the body (metastasize).

New Brunswick's colorectal cancer screening program lauded by CCAC

The Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada (CCAC) applauds the decision of the New Brunswick's Minister of Health Mary Schryer to implement a province wide colorectal cancer screening program and to provide funding for Avastin (bevacizumab) for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

25 Nov 2009

World's first intra-arterial cerebral infusion of Avastin directly into a patient's malignant brain tumor

Neurosurgeons from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center performed the world's first intra-arterial cerebral infusion of Avastin (bevacizumab) directly into a patient's malignant brain tumor. This novel intra-arterial (IA) technique may expose the cancer to higher doses of the drug therapy, while possibly sparing the patient common side effects of receiving the drug intravenously (IV) or throughout their body.

18 Nov 2009

Press conference highlights emerging treatments in pancreatic cancer

As part of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, Thompson will moderate a press conference on emerging treatments in pancreatic cancer on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009, in Room 202 of the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Mass., from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET.

18 Nov 2009

Genentech submits sBLAs to the FDA for Avastin

Genentech, Inc., a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group, today announced that the company submitted two supplemental Biologics License Applications (sBLAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Avastin® (bevacizumab) for the treatment of women who have not received chemotherapy for advanced (metastatic) HER2-negative breast cancer (first-line treatment). One sBLA is based on the Phase III study AVADO that investigated Avastin in combination with docetaxel chemotherapy.

17 Nov 2009

Targeting normal cells that surround cancer cells increases the effectiveness of traditional anti-cancer treatments

Targeting the normal cells that surround cancer cells within and around a tumor is a strategy that could greatly increase the effectiveness of traditional anti-cancer treatments, say researchers at The Wistar Institute.

17 Nov 2009

Decision Resources forecasts sales of HER2-targeting agents to grow by 3.3% per year

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, in 2008, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) targeting therapies -- which include Roche/Chugai's Herceptin and GlaxoSmithKline/Nippon Kayaku's Tykerb/Tyverb -- were the highest-selling drug class in breast cancer treatment.

9 Nov 2009

Idera Pharmaceuticals announces financial results for the third quarter of 2009

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2009.

5 Nov 2009

Gastric cancer drug market to double to nearly $1.5 billion in 2018

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the gastric cancer drug market -- driven by the launch of several targeted agents over the next few years -- will more than double from approximately $700 million in 2008 to nearly $1.5 billion in 2018 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

4 Nov 2009

Study reveals high risk of recurrence for early-stage breast cancer patients with HER2 positive tumors

Early-stage breast cancer patients with HER2 positive tumors one centimeter or smaller are at significant risk of recurrence of their disease, compared to those with early-stage disease who do not express the aggressive protein, according to a study led by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

3 Nov 2009

Third-quarter 2009 financial results of Antigenics announced

Antigenics Inc. reported today its results for the quarter ended September 30, 2009. The company incurred a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $10.8 million, or $0.13 per share, basic and diluted, for the third quarter of 2009, compared with a net loss attributable to common stockholders in the third quarter of 2008 of $11.4 million, or $0.17 per share, basic and diluted.

29 Oct 2009

UCSF presents update of Phase 2 clinical trial of Oncophage cancer vaccine at SNO 2009

Antigenics today announced that the Brain Tumor Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has presented an update on a Phase 2 clinical trial of Oncophage (vitespen) for recurrent high grade glioma (brain cancer) at the 2009 Joint Meeting of SNO (Society for Neuro-Oncology) and AANS/CNS Section on Tumors 2009 in New Orleans, LA.

26 Oct 2009

Controlled trial comparing Bevacizumab to Ranibizumab finds no difference in efficacy

Investigators from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the VA Boston Healthcare System have shown, at 6 months in a small group of patients, that there is no difference in efficacy between Bevacizumab (Avastin) and Ranibizumab (Lucentis) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

9 Oct 2009

Lpath reports positive Phase 1 clinical trial results of iSONEP in wet-AMD patients

Lpath, Inc., the category leader in lipidomics-based therapeutics, reported positive summary results of its single-dose Phase 1 clinical trial of iSONEP™ in wet-AMD patients.

8 Oct 2009

NIH awards $2 million grant to fight Neurofibromatosis type 2 disease

University of Central Florida Associate Professor Cristina Fernandez-Valle just landed two federal grants worth $2 million to research a disease that can leave children and young adults deaf, partially paralyzed or brain damaged.

6 Oct 2009

Eye treatment reimbursement change could cost Medicare millions

A change in the reimbursement rate for the drug Avastin, used off-label to treat an eye illness in the elderly, could lead Medicare doctors to use a much costlier drug that would cost the system millions, The New York Times reports.

3 Oct 2009

Phase 2 clinical trial results of IMO-2055 announced

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced the presentation of final data from a clinical trial evaluating IMO-2055, an agonist of Toll-like Receptor (TLR) 9, as monotherapy in patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC). The data are being presented during the Eighth International Kidney Cancer Symposium being held in Chicago, September 25-26, 2009.

28 Sep 2009

Phase 1b interim clinical trial results of IMO-2055, Tarceva and Avast combination announced

Idera Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IDRA) today presented interim data from a phase 1b, single arm clinical trial evaluating IMO-2055, an agonist of Toll-like Receptor (TLR) 9, in combination with Tarceva® and Avastin® in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

23 Sep 2009

Phase 1 clinical trial results evaluating ARIAD's investigational mTOR inhibitor ridaforolimus

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARIA) today announced data from a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating oral ridaforolimus, its investigational mTOR inhibitor, in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin®) in heavily pretreated patients with refractory metastatic solid tumors. The data were presented at the Joint Multidisciplinary Congress of the 15th annual European Cancer Organization (ECCO) and the 34th annual European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) taking place in Berlin, Germany.

21 Sep 2009

Cancer Research UK launches a new Cancer Centre at Cardiff

Cardiff today (Thursday) joins a unique chain of Cancer Research UK Centres that are being launched across the UK.

10 Sep 2009

Avastin increases survival rates in recurrent glioblastoma affected patients

The targeted therapy Avastin, alone and in combination with the chemotherapy drug CPT-11, significantly increased response rates, progression-free survival times and survival rates in patients with a deadly form of brain cancer that had recurred.

3 Sep 2009