Picture of Health: Women appeal to FDA on cancer drug Avastin - Health care, wellness, food nutrition, exercise, medical research news from reporters who know the halls of the world's top hospital

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June 28, 2011

Women appeal to FDA on cancer drug Avastin

The cancer drug Avastin is slated to lose it's approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating breast cancer.

Hearings are underway now. According to this Tribune blog post, some women and the drug's maker, Genentech, are hoping the agency reconsiders. Some claim it has worked for them, and losing the approval means insurance would likely no longer cover the cost.

The drug would remain approved for other kinds of cancer, and thus still available to doctors who wish to prescribe it "off label." But without insurance, that would likely put it out of reach.

The FDA approved Avastin for use in breast cancer in 2008 under a fast track system, pending further review. That review didn't show much effect on breast cancer, but some nasty side effects.

Anyone know of someone taking Avastin for breast cancer? It work for them? Should the FDA put this drug out of reach considering the study results?

Bloomberg photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cancer

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About Picture of Health

Meredith Cohn has been a reporter since 1991, covering everything from politics and airlines to the environment and medicine. A runner since junior high and a particular eater for almost as long, she tries to keep up on health and fitness trends. Her aim is to bring you the latest news and information from the local and national medical and wellness communities.

Andrea K. Walker knows it’s weird to some people, but she has a fascination with fitness, diseases, medicine and other health-related topics. She subscribes to a variety of health and fitness magazines and becomes easily engrossed in the latest research in health and science. An exercise fanatic, she’s probably tried just about every fitness activity there is. Her favorites are running, yoga and kickboxing. So it is probably fitting that she has been assigned to cover the business of healthcare and to become a regular contributor to this blog. Andrea has been at The Sun for nearly 10 years, covering manufacturing, retail , airlines and small and minority business. She looks forward to telling readers about the latest health news.

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