FDA may disapprove Avastin breast cancer treatment

Avastin which is a breast cancer drug can be pulled by a committee on the Food and Drug Administration. A new round of clinical testing revealed the drug had little or no effect on breast cancers, following the first round of clinical trials for the drug showed optimistic results. The FDA hasn’t explained whether the drug can be pulled or not year. If the drug loses its approval from the FDA, the manufacturers, Roche, might lose quite a bit. Article source – Avastin as breast cancer treatment may get disapproved by the FDA by Personal Money Store.

Selling rapidly is the Avastin cancer drug

Avastin is the trade name of Bevacizumab, a cancer medication. It could be called an angiogenesis inhibitor which stops blood vessels from growing. The hormone vascular endothelial is stopped from producing and blood vessels can grow no longer. The Los Angeles Times, reports that the drug was approved in 2008 by the FDA as long as more studies were done to prove it works. The drug was tested in a second round of trials by Roche and Genentech which manufacture the drug, and in this second round of testing, it was shown to have little result in helping cancer. The drug sells about $ 6 billion worth annually, and up to $ 1 billion of that is for breast cancer patients.

Losses in Roche business

Following the FDA panel suggested a possible pulling of the drug, shares dropped 4.1 percent for the Genentech, Roche Holding Inc., as outlined by Market Watch. The drop in share value comes on the heels of a series of lawsuits concerning Accutane, an anti-acne medication the business produces. Even if it doesn’t help breast cancer specifically, it has helped many other cancers.

Just the beginning

Things like cancer have a hard time finding medications to help them. There may well one day be a cure for cancer, but it will take a long time. The only bad thing that could come from the FDA pulling its approval would be Avastin selling less bottles.

More information about this topic at these websites

Los Angeles Times
latimes.com/news/health/sns-health-avastin-breast-cancer,0,2730048.story
Market Watch
marketwatch.com/story/roche-shares-drop-after-fda-ruling-on-avastin-2010-07-21
Bevacizumab
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevacizumab