FDA Approves Bevacizumab Paired with Chemotherapy After Surgery for Advanced Ovarian Cancer

(June 29, 2018) Avastin, or bevacizumab, was recently approved by the FDA to be used first with chemotherapy, then by itself, after surgery. A phase III trial studied 1,873 women who had not had any prior treatments for stage III or IV epithelial ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube carcinoma. Once the women had undergone the initial surgery, researchers divided them into one of three groups: chemotherapy followed by carboplatin and paclitaxel, bevacizumab with chemotherapy followed by a placebo, or bevacizumab with chemotherapy followed by bevacizumab.

Women in the last group, those who were given bevacizumab with chemotherapy followed by bevacizumab, had a statistically significant longer median progression free survival than both of the other groups. This group also had a longer median overall survival but it was not statistically significant.

Chief medical officer and head of global product development at Genentech, Sandra Horning, MD, stated that this treatment, “…gives women with advanced ovarian cancer a new treatment option that has been shown to significantly delay disease progression or death.”