Bevacizumab Injection
Bevacizumab injection is a targeted cancer therapy used to treat several types of cancer, including colorectal cancer, lung cancer, glioblastoma, kidney cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, and liver cancer.
🧬 Where this information comes from Click to expand
The clinical label records used on this page are FDA-filed Structured Product Labeling (SPL) retrieved through openFDA. We identified 2 clinical label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, strengths, and NDC product-record counts are built separately from matching FDA National Drug Code Directory records. The linked DailyMed document is a representative official source for verification, not the page’s only clinical source. View the linked label on DailyMed →
📖 Bevacizumab Injection: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Bevacizumab Injection — what it treats, how it works, how it’s taken, side effects, warnings and interactions. Tap any section to expand it.
🎯What it's used for▾
Bevacizumab injection is a cancer-fighting medicine used for several types of advanced or metastatic cancer, typically alongside chemotherapy. Avastin is the originator brand; Avzivi and JOBEVNE are also available in the injectable form.
- Avastin: Metastatic colorectal cancer — combined with IV fluorouracil-based chemotherapy (first- or second-line); also for second-line after progression on a bevacizumab-containing regimen
- Avastin: Unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer — combined with carboplatin and paclitaxel (first-line)
- Avastin: Recurrent glioblastoma (a type of brain tumor) in adults
- Avastin: Metastatic renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer) — combined with interferon alfa
- Avastin: Persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer — combined with paclitaxel and cisplatin, or paclitaxel and topotecan
- Avastin: Stage III or IV epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer following initial surgical resection — combined with carboplatin and paclitaxel, then continued as a single agent
- Avastin: Platinum-resistant recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer — combined with paclitaxel, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, or topotecan
- Avastin: Platinum-sensitive recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer — combined with carboplatin/paclitaxel or carboplatin/gemcitabine, then continued as a single agent
- Avastin: Unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) — combined with atezolizumab, for patients who have not yet received systemic therapy
- Important limitation: Avastin is not approved for adjuvant (post-surgery preventive) treatment of colon cancer
⚙️How it works▾
Bevacizumab is a type of medicine called a VEGF inhibitor. Tumors need to grow new blood vessels to get the nutrients and oxygen they need — a process called angiogenesis. Bevacizumab works by attaching to a protein called VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and blocking it from connecting to receptors on blood vessel cells. Without that signal, tumors cannot form the new blood vessels they need to grow and spread.
In laboratory and animal studies, this blockade reduced the growth of tiny blood vessels inside tumors and slowed the progression of cancer. In patients, bevacizumab is usually combined with chemotherapy to attack the tumor from multiple angles at once.
💊How it's taken▾
Bevacizumab injection is always given intravenously (into a vein) by a healthcare professional in a clinical setting — it is not available as a pill or self-injection. Depending on the specific cancer and the chemotherapy regimen being used, it is typically infused every 2 or every 3 weeks. The very first infusion is given slowly over 90 minutes. If that is well tolerated, the second infusion may be shortened to 60 minutes, and later infusions to 30 minutes.
- Your prescriber will set the exact schedule — never adjust or skip doses without their guidance
- Bevacizumab must be paused at least 28 days before elective surgery and not restarted until at least 28 days after major surgery and until wounds have healed properly
- Food does not affect IV infusion timing, but always follow your care team's specific preparation instructions
🤒Side effects — in detail▾
The most commonly reported side effects (occurring in more than 10% of patients) include:
- Nosebleeds (epistaxis)
- Headache
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Runny nose (rhinitis)
- Protein in the urine (proteinuria)
- Changes in taste
- Dry or peeling skin
- Bleeding (various types)
- Excessive tearing (lacrimation disorder)
- Back pain
Serious reactions — including gastrointestinal perforation (a hole in the gut), severe bleeding, blood clots, very high blood pressure, and a rare brain condition called PRES — require immediate medical attention. Contact your care team right away if you experience sudden severe pain, unusual bleeding, chest pain, or neurological changes like confusion or vision loss.
⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
- Gastrointestinal perforation and fistulae: Potentially fatal holes can form in the stomach or bowel. Risk is highest in patients with prior pelvic radiation. Most occurred within 50 days of the first dose.
- Serious bleeding: Severe or fatal hemorrhage — including from the lungs, gut, or brain — occurs more often with bevacizumab. Patients with a history of coughing up blood should not receive it.
- Blood clots: Both arterial (stroke, heart attack, TIA) and venous (deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism) clots are more common. Risk is higher in patients over 65, those with diabetes, or those with a prior clotting history.
- Wound healing problems: Bevacizumab impairs healing. It must be paused before and after major surgery. Necrotizing fasciitis (a life-threatening skin infection) has been reported.
- High blood pressure: Severe hypertension occurs in 5%–18% of patients. Blood pressure must be monitored regularly throughout treatment.
- Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES): A rare but serious brain condition causing headaches, seizures, confusion, or vision changes. Requires stopping bevacizumab immediately.
- Kidney injury and proteinuria: Protein leaking into urine can be severe. Regular urine monitoring is required. Nephrotic syndrome (severe kidney protein loss) requires permanent discontinuation.
- Fetal harm: Bevacizumab can cause birth defects and fetal loss. Effective contraception is required during treatment and for 6 months after the last dose.
- Ovarian failure: 34% of premenopausal women in one clinical study experienced ovarian failure — much higher than with chemotherapy alone. Recovery is not guaranteed.
- Congestive heart failure: If this develops during treatment, bevacizumab must be stopped.
🔀What it interacts with▾
Bevacizumab has been studied alongside several chemotherapy drugs. Here is what the evidence shows:
- Irinotecan and its active form (SN38): No meaningful effect on their levels in the blood when combined with bevacizumab
- Interferon alfa, carboplatin: No clinically meaningful pharmacokinetic interaction observed
- Paclitaxel: Most patients showed no meaningful interaction, but 3 out of 8 patients in one study had lower paclitaxel exposure after multiple cycles — your oncologist will monitor your response
- No specific food or alcohol interactions are described in the available labeling; always disclose all medications, vitamins, and supplements to your care team before starting treatment
This is not a complete list of interactions. Always talk with your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping, or changing any medication.
📋Before taking it▾
- Pregnancy: Bevacizumab can cause serious birth defects and fetal loss — do not use during pregnancy, and use effective contraception during treatment and for 6 months after the final dose
- Breastfeeding: Do not breastfeed during treatment or for 6 months after the last dose, due to the potential for serious harm to an infant
- Premenopausal women: Be aware of the significant risk of ovarian failure (34% incidence in one study); discuss fertility preservation options with your doctor before starting
- Older adults (65+): Have a meaningfully higher risk of arterial blood clots (stroke, heart attack) compared to younger patients
- Children and adolescents under 18: Safety and effectiveness have not been established; bevacizumab is not approved in this age group and has caused bone growth problems in juvenile animal studies
- Pre-surgical patients: Must stop bevacizumab at least 28 days before elective surgery and not restart for at least 28 days after major surgery
- History of bleeding, blood clots, high blood pressure, or diabetes: Tell your doctor, as these conditions increase your risk of serious complications
- Hepatocellular carcinoma with variceal bleeding history: Safety data is limited; an evaluation for varices is recommended within 6 months of starting treatment
🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾
Bevacizumab behaves in a predictable, linear way in the body — meaning blood levels rise proportionally with dose. Based on analysis of nearly 500 patients, it takes about 84 days to reach a stable steady-state concentration in the blood. The drug has a half-life of approximately 20 days (ranging from 11 to 50 days), meaning it stays in the body for a significant period after dosing.
Bevacizumab is distributed into a relatively small volume (roughly 2.9 liters), consistent with it staying primarily in the bloodstream rather than spreading widely into tissues. Clearance from the body is affected by body weight, sex (men clear it faster than women), and tumor burden (patients with a larger tumor mass clear it somewhat faster). These factors can influence how much drug is active in the body at any given time.
📦How to store it▾
Store refrigerated at 2°C to 8°C (36°F to 46°F) in the original carton until time of use to protect from light. Do not freeze or shake the vial or carton.
📄 Written from Bevacizumab Injection’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Every point is grounded in that labeling — nothing is invented. How we use AI →
Supplements & herbs that interact with Bevacizumab Injection
18 supplements and herbal products have documented interactions with Bevacizumab Injection in the licensed clinical database we use. Most are manageable — but your pharmacist should know about everything you take, including vitamins and herbals.
- Major · 1
- Moderate · 7
- Minor · 10
Educational information from a licensed clinical database (Natural Medicines) — see our data sources & update cadence. Not medical advice: an interaction being documented does not mean it will happen to you; do not start or stop medications or supplements without professional guidance.
🩺 Pharmacist Counseling Corner
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Bevacizumab Injection — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What exactly does bevacizumab do, and why am I getting it? ▾
How is it given, and how long does each infusion take? ▾
What side effects should I watch out for between infusions? ▾
I have surgery coming up — does that affect my treatment? ▾
Can I get pregnant or breastfeed while on bevacizumab? ▾
Are there any medications or supplements I should avoid while taking bevacizumab? ▾
Is Bevacizumab Injection available over the counter? ▾
When was Bevacizumab Injection first available? ▾
Who makes Bevacizumab Injection? ▾
💬 Answers drafted from Bevacizumab Injection’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Grounded in that labeling — nothing is made up. How we use AI →
🧰 Keep exploring
💊 How Bevacizumab Injection comes
Bevacizumab Injection is available in 1 form. Different forms and brands can have different approved uses, doses, schedules, and directions. Follow the instructions for your exact product, and do not switch forms without guidance from your prescriber or pharmacist.
Injection
How this form is used
- Avastin is used for metastatic colorectal cancer in combination with specific fluorouracil-based chemotherapy regimens (first- or second-line)
- Avastin is used for non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (first-line), recurrent glioblastoma in adults, metastatic renal cell carcinoma, persistent/recurrent/metastatic cervical cancer, epithelial ovarian/fallopian tube/primary peritoneal cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma
- Avzivi is a biosimilar bevacizumab product approved for the same conditions as described in its full prescribing information
- JOBEVNE is a bevacizumab product available in this injectable form for intravenous administration
- Avastin is given as an intravenous infusion after being diluted in 0.9% Sodium Chloride — it must never be mixed with dextrose solutions
- Avastin's first infusion is given over 90 minutes; if tolerated, the second infusion may be given over 60 minutes, and later infusions over 30 minutes
- Avastin must be withheld at least 28 days before elective surgery and not given for at least 28 days after major surgery
- Diluted Avastin solution may be stored at 2°C–8°C (36°F–46°F) for up to 8 hours; any unused portion of a vial must be discarded, as it contains no preservatives
📊 Bevacizumab Injection across the U.S. market
How Bevacizumab Injection appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
📈 How widely Bevacizumab Injection is used
A general measure of how commonly Bevacizumab Injection is prescribed, based on Medicaid — one of the largest public drug programs. The figure below is prescriptions filled in Q1–Q4 2025, summed across every form and brand of the drug.
Think of this as a proxy for how widely Bevacizumab Injection is used, drawn from freely available public data. Medicaid is just one program — these numbers don’t include Medicare, other government coverage, or commercial and cash-pay prescriptions, so real-world use is higher than what’s shown here.
How commonly is Bevacizumab Injection prescribed? Of the 1,597 medications we measure, Bevacizumab Injection ranks #318 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 80% of them.
Utilization by Bevacizumab Injection product
Pick a product to see its own Medicaid numbers. Each chip is one clinical product — a specific strength & dosage form as defined by RxNorm — with brand-name and generic versions combined.
4 ML bevacizumab 25 MG/ML Injection Most dispensed
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 1657066
16 ML bevacizumab-awwb 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2046140
16 ML bevacizumab 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 1657073
4 ML bevacizumab-awwb 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2046148
16 ML bevacizumab-bvzr 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 1 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2268047
4 ML bevacizumab-bvzr 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 1 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2268039
16 ML bevacizumab-adcd 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2627658
16 ML bevacizumab-maly 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 3 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2599051
4 ML bevacizumab-adcd 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2627650
4 ML bevacizumab-maly 25 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 3 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2599043
Shares are of the Medicaid prescriptions shown here. Product grouping follows RxNorm (the National Library of Medicine’s drug terminology), so “one product” means one strength & dosage form regardless of manufacturer. Dollar figures are gross Medicaid reimbursement before mandatory rebates — rebates (often large, especially for brand-name drugs) are confidential, so actual net cost to Medicaid is lower than shown.
Source: Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (CMS), aggregated by generic ingredient — summed across every NDC (all brands, strengths, salt forms and dosage forms) of Bevacizumab Injection, and across all states and both fee-for-service and managed-care claims. A general popularity signal; it excludes Medicare, commercial insurance and cash prescriptions, so it is not total U.S. use. Based on the 10 of 20 listed Bevacizumab Injection NDCs with Medicaid activity.
🔍 Compare Bevacizumab Injection products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Bevacizumab Injection — across manufacturers, strengths, and dosage forms, grouped by form with each product’s manufacturer and how the FDA approved it. The same medicine may be made and packaged by different companies, so a single drug can have many directory entries. (It’s also why a refill can look different — a new shape, color, or box — even though it contains the same medication.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Injection | ||||
| 100 mg/4 mL | Intravenous | Bio-Thera Solutions, Ltd. | BLA | View NDC → |
| 100 mg/4 mL | Intravenous | Genentech, Inc. × 2 listings | BLA | View NDC → |
| 400 mg/16 mL | Intravenous | Genentech, Inc. × 2 listings | BLA | View NDC → |
| 100 mg/4 mL | — | Patheon Manufacturing Services LLC | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
| 400 mg/16 mL | — | Patheon Manufacturing Services LLC | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
| 25 mg/mL | — | Samsung BioLogics Co. LTD | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
Showing 8 of 8 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 8 Bevacizumab Injection NDCs →
📈 What people report — real-world data (FDA FAERS)
After a medicine reaches the market, patients, doctors and drugmakers can send the FDA reports of problems they think may be linked to it. Here’s what’s been reported for Bevacizumab Injection — a signal of what to watch for, not proof the drug caused it.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). These are voluntary reports — they don’t prove the drug caused the effect, and counts reflect how often something was reported, not how often it actually happens. Reports also often name the very problem the medicine is taken for — a common reason to file one is that the drug didn’t help — so for a pain reliever you may see “pain” high on the list; that points to why the report was filed, not to the drug causing the symptom. This counts every report that lists Bevacizumab Injection in any role, so the total runs higher than the FDA’s official dashboard, which counts only cases where the drug is the suspect. For the authoritative figures, see the FDA FAERS Public Dashboard. Always talk to your pharmacist or doctor.
🏛️ The road to your pharmacy
How Bevacizumab Injection went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
🚨 Recall history
A recall is when a specific batch of a medicine is pulled from the market — usually a manufacturing issue, not a problem with the drug itself. Class I is most serious, Class III least.
Source: openFDA drug enforcement (recall) reports.
RxNorm Concept Web — From Ingredient to Every Form and Strength
This page starts with one ingredient concept (IN). The branches below show its dose-form concepts (SCDF), then the available clinical drug and strength concepts (SCD). Combination products remain separate concepts with their own pages.
RxCUI 253337 1 dose form · 15 strengths
-
Dose form (SCDF) Injection RxCUI 1657065In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 0.05 ML bevacizumab-vikg 25 MG/MLRxCUI 27491104 ML bevacizumab 25 MG/MLRxCUI 16570664 ML bevacizumab-adcd 25 MG/MLRxCUI 26276504 ML bevacizumab-awwb 25 MG/MLRxCUI 20461484 ML bevacizumab-bvzr 25 MG/MLRxCUI 22680394 ML bevacizumab-maly 25 MG/MLRxCUI 25990434 ML bevacizumab-nwgd 25 MG/MLRxCUI 27120484 ML bevacizumab-tnjn 25 MG/MLRxCUI 270073516 ML bevacizumab 25 MG/MLRxCUI 165707316 ML bevacizumab-adcd 25 MG/MLRxCUI 262765816 ML bevacizumab-awwb 25 MG/MLRxCUI 204614016 ML bevacizumab-bvzr 25 MG/MLRxCUI 226804716 ML bevacizumab-maly 25 MG/MLRxCUI 259905116 ML bevacizumab-nwgd 25 MG/MLRxCUI 271205716 ML bevacizumab-tnjn 25 MG/MLRxCUI 2700744
Look up RxCUI 253337 in the RxCUI Atlas →
RxNorm is the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s normalized drug vocabulary. Its concept hierarchy can include forms that are not currently marketed; the status on each branch compares that concept with current FDA listings. RxCUIs identify vocabulary concepts, not individual packages or manufacturers.
📦 Supply & shortage status
Whether Bevacizumab Injection is in short supply in the U.S. right now, plus any shortage history the FDA has on record. A shortage usually reflects a manufacturing or demand issue — not a safety problem with the drug.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Drug Shortages database.
🏷️ Sold under these brand names
🏭 Manufacturers & labelers
RxNorm drug class
Bevacizumab Injection belongs to the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Inhibitor class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
🔬 Where this comes from
Core label, product, RxNorm, safety, and utilization data on this page come from the sources identified below. AI-written, editorial, and licensed sections are labeled separately.
How we combine label and product data
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records; we don’t author the underlying clinical facts. We identified 2 FDA-filed SPL label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. The representative label is the starting point for the displayed reference monograph; the 12 largest stored in-scope SPL records, which may include that representative, are compared section by section, and the longest available version of each section is retained. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, product-listed strengths, and product-record counts are aggregated separately from ingredient-matched FDA NDC Directory records; package records listed above are associated with the linked SPL; and the normalized concept hierarchy comes from NLM RxNorm.
Where a section is identified as AI-written, its plain-language text is generated from bounded label evidence. New draft drug pages remain in the admin review queue before first publication. Genentech, Inc. is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates; it is not the sole source used for the page.
This is general education, not medical advice — always consult your doctor or pharmacist about your medications and any medical condition. For the exact wording of the linked representative label, view that label on DailyMed; some displayed composite sections may come from other in-scope SPL labels. Learn how we use AI and our data sources & update cadence.