FDA revokes Avastin’s approval for breast cancer treatment
The Obama administration revoked approval on Friday of the top-selling cancer drug Avastin for treating advanced breast cancer, despite appeals from distraught women, some patient advocates and the company that makes the drug.
While medical advances have reduced the death toll from breast cancer, the malignancy remains the most common cancer among women, and the decision leaves few last-ditch options for many of those fighting the most advanced form of the disease. As a result, the fate of the drug had sparked one of the more emotional and acrimonious debates in years over a medical treatment among patients, oncologists, women’s health advocates, health-care policymakers, politicians and the pharmaceutical industry.
Some patients likened the FDA decision to a death sentence. Advocates of quicker access to new treatments and critics fearing health-Moncler Outlet care rationing called it a prime example of government overstepping. But many leading researchers, public health analysts and even prominent breast cancer doctors and advocates praised the decision. They saw it as a crucial demonstration that careful examination of the scientific evidence trumped emotion and intense public pressure.
“By not recognizing the fact that a subgroup of women with metastatic breast cancer respond well to Avastin, we have yet another tragic mistake by the FDA,” said Frank Burroughs, founder of the Abigail Alliance, which advocates for greater access to new treatments. “Because of FDA drug rejections like Avastin for breast cancer, the terribly slow FDA approval of lifesaving therapies and the FDA’s blocking of compassionate access, we are losing thousands of lives of cancer patients and others with serious life-threatening illnesses each year.”
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