Avastin Sanctioned as Lung Cancer Treatment

(HealthDay News) -- The Genentech drug Avastin (bevacizumab) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat the most common lung cancer, the agency said Thursday.
The drug was sanctioned -- in combination with a standard two-drug chemotherapy regimen -- to treat unresectable, locally advanced, non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer.
In studies involving 878 patients, the addition of Avastin improved average survival time to 12.3 months from 10.3 months among people who received only the other two drugs, carboplatin and paclitaxel, the agency said in a statement.
Non-small cell lung cancer will account for three-quarters of the 174,000 U.S. cases of lung cancer to be diagnosed this year, the agency said. Lung cancer is the nation's leading cause of cancer death among both men and women.
Avastin was first approved in 2004 to treat colorectal cancer.
More information
To learn more about lung cancer, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.