Where do all the cancer drugs stand...with the recent news of Ted Kennedy, this article briefly goes over what is available, cost, and what areas of cancer the various drugs treat..insurers are starting to pay on some....BD
The prognosis for Sen. Ted Kennedy, who was diagnosed yesterday with a malignant glioma, isn’t good. But research into this relatively common form of brain cancer is showing new possibilities for treating the disease.
A wave of cancer drugs that target a molecule called VEGF appears especially promising, Timothy Cloughesy, director of neuro-oncology at UCLA, told the Health Blog.
Genentech’s Avastin targets VEGF and is approved to treat colorectal and lung cancers. Even though it’s not approved by FDA to treat glioblastomas (the most aggressive gliomas), Avastin is widely used off-label already, especially when patients have failed standard treatment, Cloughesy said.
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