What is "bevacizumab"

n. (context pharmacy English) A monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of cancer.

Bevacizumab, sold under the trade name Avastin, is an angiogenesis inhibitor, a drug that slows the growth of new blood vessels.

Bevacizumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks angiogenesis by inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A). VEGF-A is a chemical signal that stimulates angiogenesis in a variety of diseases, especially in cancer. Bevacizumab was the first clinically available angiogenesis inhibitor in the United States.

Bevacizumab was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for certain metastatic cancers. It received its first approval in 2004, for combination use with standard chemotherapy for metastatic colon cancer. It has since been approved for use in certain lung cancers, renal cancers, ovarian cancers, and glioblastoma multiforme of the brain. It had been approved for breast cancer, but that approval was withdrawn when later studies showed no evidence of effectiveness. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most important medications needed in a basic health system. It is listed for its use in treating certain eye diseases.