Avastin Approved in Europe for First-Line Treatment of Patients With Advanced Kid...( Avastin offers patients the chance...)

Avastin offers patients the chance to live twice as long without their

disease advancing

BASEL, Switzerland, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Avastin (bevacizumab), Roche's innovative anti-cancer drug, was approved today in Europe for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell cancer (RCC) in combination with interferon (IFN), the current standard of care*. Kidney cancer, known as renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a disease that kills over 100,000 people per year world-wide(1).

There are few early symptoms in kidney cancer which means that unfortunately the majority of patients are diagnosed with advanced disease, where current treatment options are limited. Kidney cancer is highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which are often key weapons against other cancer types(2).

The approval was based on data from the pivotal phase III AVOREN trial, which showed that patients with advanced RCC who received Avastin in combination with IFN lived nearly twice as long without their disease progressing ("progression free survival"), as those who received IFN alone.

"The results of the AVOREN study confirmed that Avastin is a safe, effective and well tolerated treatment option for patients with advanced renal cell cancer," said Professor Bernard Escudier, Head of the Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapy Unit, Institut Gustave-Roussy, Paris, France and Principal Investigator of the pivotal AVOREN study. "Avastin effectively doubles the time in which patients live without their disease getting worse, so this approval has the potential to change the treatment landscape for this disease, where treatment options are still limited."

Avastin Approval Status

Kidney cancer is the fourth cancer type in which Avastin has demonstrated positive survival benefits for patients. Data from the comprehensive Avastin cancer clinical development programme have resulted in approvals in advanced colorectal
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