Zirabev

Zirabev is a cancer medicine that is used to treat adults with the following cancers: - cancer of the colon (large bowel) or the rectum (the last section of the bowel), when it has spread to other parts of the body; - breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body; - a lung cancer called non-small cell lung cancer when it is advanced or has spread or come back, and cannot be treated with surgery. Zirabev can be used unless the cancer originates in particular cells called squamous cells; - cancer of the kidney (renal cell carcinoma) that is advanced or has spread elsewhere; - epithelial cancer of the ovary, cancer of the fallopian tube (that connect the ovaries to the womb) or the peritoneum (the membrane lining the abdomen) when the cancer is advanced, or in previously treated patients whose cancer has come back (recurrent); - cancer of the cervix (the neck of the womb) that has persisted or come back after treatment, or spread to other parts of the body. Zirabev is used in combination with other cancer medicines, depending on previous treatments or the presence of mutations (genetic changes) in the cancer that affect how well particular medicines work. Zirabev contains the active substance bevacizumab and it is a ‘biosimilar medicine’. This means that Zirabev is highly similar to another biological medicine (the ‘reference medicine’) that is already authorised in the EU. The reference medicine for Zirabev is Avastin.