FDA Drops Approval of Avastin for Breast Cancer

Drug lacks benefits, but side effects are 'life-threatening': commissioner
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 18, 2011 11:22 AM CST
FDA Drops Approval of Avastin for Breast Cancer
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.   (Getty Images)

The Food and Drug Administration has reversed its approval of Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer, long the subject of controversy. The agency’s commissioner said the drug didn't help patients but could hurt them, the New York Times reports. “This was a difficult decision,” says Dr. Margaret Hamburg in a statement. But studies have made it “clear that women who take Avastin for metastatic breast cancer risk potentially life-threatening side effects without proof that the use of Avastin will provide a benefit.”

“Nor is there evidence that use of Avastin will help them live longer or improve their quality of life,” she adds. Avastin is still FDA-approved for other cancers, and Medicare has previously said it would keep paying for its use against breast cancer. But other insurers may stop covering the $88,000-a-year medicine. FDA advisors unanimously recommended the move—which could cost Roche, the company that bought drug manufacturer Genentech, $1 billion, according to earlier estimates. But a large chunk of those losses may already have taken place as the drug’s popularity has fallen. Click through for more on the contentious decision. (More FDA stories.)

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