What Is Bevacizumab (Avastin®) for Mesothelioma?
Bevacizumab is a medication that may be used to treat mesothelioma. It’s a targeted therapy that helps stop tumors from forming new blood vessels. Bevacizumab can enhance the effectiveness of other cancer treatments, including immunotherapy.
The drug works by blocking a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) so the cancer can’t make new blood vessels. This cuts off the blood supply to the tumor, causing it to shrink.
Right now, bevacizumab is not FDA-approved for mesothelioma, but some oncologists may prescribe it off-label, often in combination with chemotherapy, based on promising results from clinical trials. As more trials study bevacizumab, it may become more widely available.
Key Facts on Avastin for Mesothelioma
- Delivery method: Intravenous infusion (IV)
- Patient eligibility: Available for malignant pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma
- Possible side effects: Fatigue, higher risk of infections, digestive issues, blood clots, and more
- Impact on patient survival: In the MAPS trial, patients lived for nearly 19 months when treated with bevacizumab and chemotherapy
Learn more about how Avastin and other similar medications could help you in our Free Immunotherapy Guide.
Benefits of Bevacizumab for Mesothelioma
While bevacizumab hasn’t been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yet, many studies have shown how it could help patients as part of a broader mesothelioma treatment plan.
Key benefits of bevacizumab for mesothelioma include:
- Easing cancer symptoms: By stopping tumors from growing, this medication could allow mesothelioma patients to have a better overall quality of life.
- Giving patients options: Doctors could use bevacizumab as an initial or first-line treatment if patients can’t get surgery, or as a second-line (follow-up) option for mesothelioma recurrence.
- Improving life expectancy: Multiple studies have noted that bevacizumab improved patient survival times and stopped their cancer from growing, providing hope in the face of an often poor prognosis.
- Providing hope for multiple diagnoses: Studies have shown bevacizumab could help treat pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma, the two main types of this cancer. It can also be used for all three major mesothelioma cell types, which are epithelioid, sarcomatoid, and biphasic.
- Working with other treatments: Doctors can use it along with mesothelioma chemotherapy drugs cisplatin, carboplatin, and pemetrexed or other immunotherapies like atezolizumab (Tecentriq®) to kill as much cancer as possible.
Two mesothelioma patients treated with bevacizumab and chemotherapy achieved long-term survival, according to Case Reports in Oncology. The first patient lived for 7 years before passing away from unrelated causes. The second patient achieved complete remission for over 2 years.
How Bevacizumab Works
Bevacizumab helps shrink mesothelioma tumors by impacting their ability to make blood vessels. This medication is a monoclonal antibody. This means it is a man-made version of antibodies your immune system normally makes to kill threats like cancer.
Bevacizumab targets the VEGF protein that mesothelioma tumors use to make blood vessels, which are needed to grow and spread. By binding to VEGF, the mesothelioma tumors become starved of blood and can’t get any bigger.
Because it stops the production of blood vessels, bevacizumab is also referred to as an angiogenesis inhibitor.
As this treatment option slows tumor growth, the body’s normal defenses (T cells) get a better chance to respond and kill cancer cells. Other mesothelioma treatments may be more effective as a result of bevacizumab, including chemotherapy, different immunotherapies, and more.
Contact us now for help finding trials that may allow you to get bevacizumab or other key mesothelioma treatments not yet widely available.
Avastin Side Effects
Bevacizumab is found to be generally safe for mesothelioma patients, but it can cause treatment-related side effects. As you receive this treatment, your doctors will closely monitor you for any side effects and help to address them.
Common bevacizumab side effects include:
- Abdominal pain
- Coughing
- Diarrhea and constipation
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Headache
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Higher risk of infection
- Mild nose bleeds or minor bleeding
- Mouth sores
- Peripheral neuropathy (tingling in hands or feet)
- Weight and appetite loss
Some rare but serious adverse effects of Avastin have also been reported, such as blood clots (pulmonary embolism), holes in the intestines (gastrointestinal perforation), loss of fertility, and heart attacks. Doctors also monitor patients for delayed wound healing, especially before or after surgery, and for high blood pressure, which is one of the most common side effects.
If you’re concerned about your risks, always make sure to speak with your doctor before starting mesothelioma bevacizumab treatments.
What to Expect When Getting Bevacizumab for Mesothelioma
If you’re considering starting bevacizumab as a first or second-line response to mesothelioma, there are a few things you can expect during your treatment.
1. Get Avastin Intravenous Injections
You’ll receive bevacizumab by IV infusion typically every 2-3 weeks. Doses take anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes. You’ll receive bevacizumab in cycles, meaning you get the treatment and then have a rest period.
You may or may not receive other treatments like chemotherapy in tandem with your bevacizumab cycles. It depends on your overall mesothelioma treatment plan.
Use our Free Doctor Match to find specialists who can see if bevacizumab or other emerging mesothelioma treatments could help you.
2. Monitor for Response and Side Effects
As you receive your initial cycles of mesothelioma bevacizumab, doctors will keep a close watch on your overall health. This includes checking periodically to see if your mesothelioma tumors have shrunk or stopped growing, and recommending ways to manage any treatment-related side effects.
3. Continue Your Mesothelioma Treatment Plan
If your mesothelioma stays stable or shrinks, your doctors may suggest that you continue to get regular bevacizumab injections. You can continue on the medication for many months or years if it’s still helping to shrink or stop your cancer.
If your mesothelioma starts to spread again or the side effects become serious, your health care team may recommend stopping bevacizumab and reassessing your treatment plan.
How Much Does Bevacizumab for Mesothelioma Cost?
Bevacizumab is not available outside of clinical trials for mesothelioma, which don’t cost anything to join. However, you may face out-of-pocket expenses for travel, lodging, and meals if you don’t live close to a cancer center conducting a trial for bevacizumab.
In addition, you may face other costs related to having mesothelioma, such as paying for diagnostic tests and additional treatments besides bevacizumab — and insurance may not cover all the expenses.
You may also have to deal with other unexpected expenses outside of treatment costs, such as you or someone you love not being able to work and losing wages.
Mesothelioma Hope can help you recover financial compensation to pay for any expenses. Call now at (866) 608-8933 to get started.
Clinical Trials Testing Bevacizumab for Mesothelioma
Right now, bevacizumab is only used to treat mesothelioma patients through clinical trials. These studies investigate different ways of using bevacizumab with other therapies to help patients live longer.
Notable bevacizumab mesothelioma clinical trials include:
- BEAT-Meso: In this phase III trial, chemotherapy and bevacizumab helped patients with sarcomatoid or biphasic mesothelioma live significantly longer. These patients had a 2-year survival rate of 29% compared to just 14% in those who received standard chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments.
- MAPS trial: This phase III study found that adding bevacizumab to chemotherapy could help patients with advanced pleural mesothelioma live for 18.8 months on average. Those treated with just chemotherapy lived for only 16 months.
- MIST4: This was a phase II trial studying bevacizumab and Tecentriq in patients experiencing mesothelioma recurrence. This combination helped nearly 70% of patients achieve stable disease, meaning the cancer stopped growing.
More trials continue to study how bevacizumab could help mesothelioma patients. For example, a phase II trial testing chemotherapy, bevacizumab, and Tecentriq is currently accepting peritoneal mesothelioma patients across the United States.
Learn if Bevacizumab Is Right for You
Bevacizumab is an important mesothelioma treatment to consider, whether you’ve been recently diagnosed or if the cancer has come back following other therapies.
A wide range of patients have lived longer with a better quality of life thanks to bevacizumab, and depending on the specifics in your case, it could work for you too.
Mesothelioma Hope may be able to:
- Connect you with doctors who can see if bevacizumab may help you
- Find top treatments no matter your diagnosis
- Help you pursue compensation so you can afford any expenses
- Receive other forms of support during your cancer journey
Get our Free Immunotherapy Guide or call (866) 608-8933 now to learn how we can assist your family.
Bevacizumab (Avastin) for Mesothelioma FAQs
Is bevacizumab chemotherapy or immunotherapy?
Bevacizumab is a type of immunotherapy, not chemotherapy. This medication helps prevent mesothelioma tumors from making blood vessels, which causes them to stop growing.
Your doctor may recommend getting both bevacizumab and chemotherapy. Because bevacizumab prevents the cancer from growing, it may be easier to destroy with chemotherapy drugs.
What is the drug bevacizumab used for?
Doctors use bevacizumab to prevent mesothelioma tumors from getting bigger. Bevacizumab is known as an anti-VEGF drug, which means it blocks a protein called VEGF that cancer uses to make blood vessels. By doing so, the cancer is starved of the blood it needs to grow.
As of right now, bevacizumab is only used in clinical trials, but as more results show that it can help improve the standard of care for more patients, it may be approved for wider use.
Contact our team now to learn if you may be able to get bevacizumab or other types of mesothelioma treatments available through trials.
How do you know if bevacizumab is working?
Your doctor will perform imaging tests like CT scans every few cycles to see how bevacizumab is working to treat your mesothelioma. They’ll look to see if the cancer has shrunk or at least hasn’t gotten any bigger.
If your doctor sees that your cancer has worsened despite Avastin mesothelioma treatment, they may recommend stopping and looking into other options that could help you.
Is bevacizumab FDA approved?
Bevacizumab is currently not FDA approved to treat mesothelioma, but has been granted clearance for lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and other serious cancers.
If more clinical trials show that bevacizumab could help a wide range of mesothelioma patients, it could receive approval at some point in the future.
In the meantime, we may be able to help you join a clinical trial so you can access mesothelioma bevacizumab. Call (866) 608-8933 to get started.
What are the common side effects of bevacizumab?
Common side effects of mesothelioma bevacizumab treatments include a cough, fatigue, and digestive issues like diarrhea. Your doctors can usually help you easily manage these side effects with painkillers and other medications.
Speak with your doctor promptly if you experience more serious side effects, including blood clots or intense abdominal pain (which could be a sign of an intestinal perforation).
How long does bevacizumab treatment for mesothelioma last?
You can receive bevacizumab for as long as your mesothelioma responds to it or until the symptoms become too severe. If the treatment is working in your case, you could use it for many years.
For example, one patient used mesothelioma bevacizumab treatments to live for 7 years before dying of unrelated issues.
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