Biotechnology Product Investigation
Part A
Biotechnology drug: Bevacizumab
Bevacizumab is a drug that acts primarily as an anti-angiogenesis inhibitor, which means its inhibits blood vessel growth. The drug mainly targets a cell protein formed by cancer called Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) which stimulates blood vessel growth. Cancer tumors release a large amount of VEGF which causes new nearby blood vessels to sprout, hence further feeds the cancer tumor with nutrients. These blood vessels also act as a pathway for the cancer to spread throughout the body. Avastin prevents cancer cell proliferation and inhibits endothelial growth by specifically binding to VEGF, preventing further blood vessel growth and may also prevent communication with the tumor and nearby blood vessels preventing connection with a proper blood supply.
This drug is applicable to many types of cancer, a few being kidney cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and colon cancer. It is often paired with chemotherapy as alone the drug does not destroy cancer but simply inhibits its growth. . The drug does was proven to work successfully but the drug can only shrink the cancer and a second-line treatment was shown to have no effect on the already shrank cancer cells.
In addition to that it also treats macular degeneration, which is an age related condition that can result in blurred vision or blindness.
The drugs were originally derived from a monoclonal antibody generated from mice. Today it is produced by in a Chinese Hamster Ovary (Mammalian cell) expression system by recombinant DNA technology, which is then placed in a nutrient medium containing Gentamicin (a type of antibiotic) and is purified by a process through specific viral inactivation.
The drug was first approved in 2004 after it was proved to be successful at fighting cancer alongside chemotherapy. Recently in