Roche reports that the European Union's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion on the use of Avastin (bevacizumab) in combination with standard chemotherapy (paclitaxel and cisplatin or, alternatively, paclitaxel and topotecan in patients who cannot receive platinum therapy) for the treatment of adult patients with persistent, recurrent or metastatic carcinoma of the cervix.

n August 2014 in the U.S., and in December 2014 in Switzerland, Avastin was approved in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin or paclitaxel and topotecan chemotherapy for the treatment of women with persistent, recurrent or metastatic carcinoma of the cervix.

With the initial approval in the United States for advanced colorectal cancer in 2004, Avastin became the first anti-angiogenic therapy made widely available for the treatment of patients with an advanced cancer.

Avastin is approved in Europe for the treatment of advanced stages of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, kidney cancer and ovarian cancer, and is available in the United States for the treatment of colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, kidney cancer, cervical cancer and platinum-resistant, recurrent ovarian cancer. In addition, Avastin is approved in the United States and over 60 other countries worldwide for the treatment of patients with progressive glioblastoma following prior therapy. Avastin is approved in Japan for the treatment of the advanced stages of colorectal, non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and malignant glioma, including newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

Source: Roche