Ovarian cancer, one of most potent gynecological cancers, caused the death of 140,000 women worldwide. Avastin, a drug manufactured by Roche, has been approved by the European Commission to treat women with new or advanced stages of ovarian cancer. Women can use the drug in conjunction with chemotherapy; surgery and chemotherapy were the only prior options.
“Today’s [Saturday] approval of Avastin marks the first major treatment advance in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer in 15 years,” said Chief Medical Officer Hal Barron. “This is the fifth tumor type for which Avastin has been approved in Europe, making it one of few biologic drugs indicated for multiple cancers.”
In two late-stage studies, Roche found that women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer who used Avastin and chemotherapy and then continued on just Avastin lived quite a bit longer without their disease getting worse compared with those who received only chemotherapy.
Roche, a Swiss company, is a world leader in creating drugs to treat cancer.
