How does Avastin work?
All cancers need new blood vessels to take hold and grow. Recent research has shown that using Avastin can inhibit the growth of new blood vessels on cancer cells. Since these new blood vessels nourish the cancer cells, inhibiting their formation (anti-angiogenesis) deprives the cells of needed nutrition, and they starve. Lehigh Valley Health Network recently participated in a clinical trial which demonstrated that combining antibody therapy with chemotherapy kept cancer from spreading for a longer time in patients with advanced breast cancer than chemotherapy alone. In this trial, the antibody Avastin was combined with the chemotherapy agent Taxol (paclitaxel).
The FDA took a skeptical tone today on Genentech’s application to sell its cancer drug Avastin to treat breast cancer patients whose disease has spread. A panel of outside experts meeting … All cells exist in a state of dynamic tension in which several internal and external forces work with and against each other.
