Roche’s Avastin shows benefits among older bowel cancer patients

Roche has highlighted data from a new study showing the benefits offered by its drug Avastin for elderly patients suffering from advanced bowel cancer.

Results from the phase III Avex study have showed that Avastin – in combination with Xeloda – can significantly improve progression-free survival rates among people aged over 70 compared to Xeloda alone.

The data showed that Avastin can help this patient group just as much as it can with younger subjects, while it was also proven that older recipients can tolerate Avastin as an initial treatment after diagnosis without experiencing any new side effects.

Study leader Professor David Cunningham, head of the gastrointestinal unit at The Royal Marsden Hospital, said: "Improving outcomes in older patients with cancer is a high priority for clinicians and the Avex trial provides solid evidence that such trials are feasible and impact on patient care."

This comes after the firm received a new metastatic colorectal cancer approval for Avastin from the US Food and Drug Administration last week.