Avastin Biosimilars Catching On For Patients With Lung and Colorectal Cancer | AMCP Annual 2025

Use of biosimilars to Avastin (bevacizumab) increased to about one-fifth of patients with non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic colorectal cancer by March 2024, according to results of a real-world evidence study presented at the 2025 annual meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) this week in Houston.

The research also showed that hemorrhage was more common among patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with the Avastin biosimilars than those treated with “originator” Avastin (6.4% vs. 4.7%) but less common in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated with Avastin biosimilars (9.1% vs. 9.9%).

Four Avastin biosimilars have launched, starting with Mvasi (bevacizumab-awwb) in July 2019, followed by Zirabev (bevacizumab-bvzr), Vegzelma (bevacizumab-adcd) and Alymys (bevacizumab-maly). Bevacizumab inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a protein that helps spur the growth of blood vessels that supply tumors with oxygen and nutrients.

Cate Lockhart, Pharm.D., Ph.D., chief science officer of AMCP and executive director at Biologics and Biosimilars Collective Intelligence Consortium, and her co-researchers used deidentified data from Carelon Research’s Healthcare Integrated Research Data from July 1, 2017, through March 31, 2024. Carelon is a research arm of Elevance Health, formerly known as Anthem, one of the largest health insurance companies in the U.S. They identified 1,307 patients with non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic colorectal cancer and 4,688 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Among the patients with non-small cell lung cancers, the proportion treated with Avastin biosimilars increased from 0% in 2018 to 23.9% in 2023. The pattern was similar among those with metastatic colorectal cancer, with the proportion increasing from 0% in 2018 to 21.8% in 2023. Over the same time period, the use of Avastin fell from 14.9% to 11.9% among the patients with non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for approximately 80% of lung cancers, and from 22.9% to 7.4%.

Although adverse outcomes varied between cohorts, Lockhart and her colleagues concluded that the efficacy and safety of Avastin biosimilars were comparable to the originator and that the originator and biosimilar were used by similar patients.