What is Bevacizumab
Bevacizumab is a drug that targets the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is a protein that helps cancer grow blood cells to get food and oxygen for survival. Bevacizumab blocks out this protein and ultimately stops cancer from growing blood cells. As a result, it starves lung cancer cells so they cannot grow anymore. Also, kind of a drug that interferes with the blood supply is known as an anti-angiogenesis treatment. It inhibits the formation of new blood vessels in primary and metastatic tumors. It is available with the trade name Avastin. In this article, we discuss the dosage, availability, administration, side effects, and precautions of the drug.
Availability, dosage, and administration
Bevacizumab is available in injectable form. Doctors recommend 25mg/ml (4ml, 16ml single vial dose).
Uses:
- Metastatic colorectal cancer
- Non-small cell lung cancer
- Glioblastoma
- Renal cell cancer
- Cervical Cancer
- Ovarian, fallopian tube cancer.
Dosage
The recommended dose depends on the indication/ use of the drug. In most cases, medical oncologists prescribe 10 to 15 mg/kg.
Side effects
The common side effects that patients may experience while on a regimen of Bevacizumab, are:
- Gastrointestinal complications like delay wound healing, perforation
- Bleeding complications like epistaxis
- Increased risk thrombotic effect
- Hypertension
- Infusion-related symptoms like fever, chills, flushing, fatigue, headache
- Dizziness and depression
Precautions
- Inform the doctor about other medications.
- Do not take any vaccination or immunization without informing the doctor.
- Inform the doctor before starting the treatment in case of pregnancy.
- Do not conceive a child (applicable for both men and women)
- Also, do not breastfeed.
- Use the drug with caution in patients with uncontrolled hypertension.
Furthermore, read on drugs used for the treatment of lung cancer.