Bevacizumab

Bevacizumab is an anti-angiogenesis drug used in treatment of cancer. It is used in combination with standard chemotherapy drugs in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved bevacizumab for use in 2004. The medicine is sold in the United States by Genetech, Inc. under the name Avastin.

Bevacizumab is a monoclonal antibody, and was the first commercially available angiogenesis inhibitor. It stops tumor growth by preventing the formation of new blood vessels.

The drug was first developed as a genetically engineered version of a mouse antibody that contains both human and mouse components. Genentech is able to produce the antibody in production-scale quantities.

Bevacizumab is believed to work by targeting and inhibiting the function of a natural protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) that stimulates new blood vessel formation.

Bevacizumab has also demonstrated activity in kidney cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer