Bevacizumab vs EGFR antibodies in metastatic colorectal cancer.

AV The angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech), which inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor A, has several benefits in metastatic colorectal cancer. It appears to confer a survival advantage, and depending on the study cited it also may add somewhat to response rate—although that depends on the agent it is paired with. Also, bevacizumab is generally well tolerated. The main limitations of bevacizumab are that it does not produce a large improvement in response rate or depth of response, and it bears a small risk—2% to 4%—of a major complication, such as stroke, heart attack, or bowel perforation.