Avastin

[Tybear]

Hi everyone... my question is for those who are on or have taken Avastin. I am wondering what the dosage was you were given. My onc put me on 10mg/kilogram of body weight and I have this every two weeks, by IV. I've heard that a normal dose is 5mg/kilogram of body weight and I'm just wondering why I'm on such a huge dose. Also curious about side effects. I haven't noticed any as of yet (knock on wood!) but I'm wondering if anyone has had to deal with any of the more serious ones - ie: hypertension, bowel perforations, blood clots etc. I'm so worried about these, I can hardly sleep. My last question is, were you able to get any financial assistance from the drug company? I was seriously mis-quoted on my costs, and found out once I was there, ready to start, that it was $6000 a treatment, not $1300 - OUCH! I've contacted Roche Canada but they never gave me any idea of how much they would be willing to cover. I have to fax them a copy of my tax return from last year that outlines my income and I guess it's based on that. Thanks for anything you can pass along...
Becky

[hopeshell]

Becky,

So so sorry to hear about the cost of that drug!!!!!  I am hoping and praying it turns out to be well worth every penny for you.  Hang in there!

Hugs,
Shelly

[abrite1]

I was on Avastin every 3 weeks for a year. It was part of a clinical trial and part of the time I was on taxol/carbo/avastin and then taxol/avastin. I do not know what my dose was. I did not experience any side-effects at all from the Avastin. I know that several people in the trial had some blood pressure issues but they were managed with medication. No one had a bowel perforation and I am unaware of anyone having blood clots. I was fortunate that the drug company did not charge for the avastin since it was part of a trial. I do hope all works out fwell or you!

[SimplyStar]

I just researched a little and found that the US has put a cap on the cost of Avastin per year at  around $54,000.  that is about 1/2 of what you would pay for 8 months.  

[Jatoo]

Dear Becky:

The dosage used in one study  is 15mg/kg every 21 days:"Patients with advanced recurrent ovarian cancer treated with single agent or combination bevacizumab (Avastin) therapy (15 mg/kg every 21 days) were retrospectively identified." (No reported cases of bowel perforation on this study).

I can't remember correctly how much my wife was given, but if  I'm not mistaken it was also 10 mg/kg and again not sure whether it was two or three weeks: most probably three weeks. But then we had Gemzar added to Avastin.

So just like what we did, just ask your Onc as to how she compared with the actual clinical trials dosage which you can find on the web.

I hope this helps and pray that it will work on you and you'll get it for free.

Jatoo

[chelan3]

Hi Becky, they just had an article in the newspaper here that Avastin was just added to the formulary here in Sask. but I think only for colon cancer.  They mentioned that it was costing patients $2000 per dose, I wonder why the difference in cost across the provinces?  Hope everything goes well with your recent treatments.  Hopefully you'll get some coverage - that's a big chunk of cash.  
Take care.
Debbie