Recent studies on the drug Avastin being able to possibly treat ovarian cancer has doctors and patients eager to begin testing the drug to treat those diagnosed with the disease.
Two recent studies showed that traditional chemotherapy drugs allowed women with ovarian cancer to live longer when the drugs were added to Avastin. According to the studies, Avastin added 3.6 to 3.8 months of survival for patients.
"I think we finally have a third component of treatment that may greatly complement our therapeutics for ovarian cancers," said Dr. Robert Burger, the Philadelphia-based surgical oncologist who led one of the studies.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in April cautioned that even if Avastin is effective in treating the disease, it wouldn't mean the drug is cost-effective.
Ovarian cancer accounts for about 4 percent of women's cancers and is the fourth-leading cause of cancer-related death among American women, according to the website Emedtv. With ovarian cancer being such a deadly and still incurable disease, American women might look to life insurance to ensure financial stability in the future.