Bevacizumab
Brand Names
Avastin® (There may be other brand names for this medication)
How is it Administered?
Your medicine will be given intravenously (IV), which means it will given by injection into a vein, usually in your arm, wrist, hand or chest.
What is Bevacizumab Used For?
This drug is used to treat colon, rectal, breast or renal cell (kidney) cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and for certain types of lung cancer.
How Does it Work?
Bevacizumab is in a class of medications called anti-angiogenic agents. It is a type of targeted therapy. You may also hear it referred to a monoclonal antibody.
Traditional chemotherapy drugs identify cancer cells by their rapid rate of reproduction, and then attack those cells. Unfortunately, there are many cells in our bodies that normally reproduce rapidly and these cells are also affected by traditional chemotherapy drugs, resulting in many unpleasant side effects.
Bevacizumab is designed to work differently. Instead of attacking rapidly reproducing cells, it attacks the cancer by stopping the formation of blood vessels and cutting off the oxygen and nutrients that the cancer needs. This may slow the growth and spread of tumors.
