Bevacizumab (Avastin^®)
Another antiangiogenic therapy called bevacizumab (Avastin^®) has shown activity in liver cancer. Bevacizumab, which is administered by intravenous infusion, blocks angiogenesis by neutralizing the VEGF protein. For advanced liver cancer, bevacizumab has shown to be active when used in combination with chemotherapy or other targeted therapies. Encouraging results were reported from a phase 2 clinical trial of bevacizumab in combination with erlotinib (Tarceva^®), a targeted drug that is designed to neutralize the receptor for a protein called epidermal growth factor (EGFR).⁷ EGFR plays an important role in the development and progression of many cancer types, including liver cancer, by helping to stimulate angiogenesis and tumor growth. Among 40 patients with inoperable liver cancer treated with the bevacizumab + erlotinib combination in the phase 2 study, median overall survival was 15.6 months and 63% of patients remained free of cancer progression for at least 16 weeks.