(Image source: Genetech)
BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN AND NICK ADAMS
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
The FDA now says Avastin -- the world’s best selling cancer drug -- is not safe to treat breast cancer.
CNN has the latest.
“FDA commissioner saying the drug is not safe and effective for that type of cancer. Administrator also says the drug carries the risk of severe bleeding and heart failure.”
But -- MSNBC reports -- Avastin remains viable for patients who suffer from other types of cancer.
“This doesn't mean Avastin is being taken off the market. The drug does have effectiveness that's been clearly proven in a variety of other types of cancer including colon cancer, kidney cancer, lung cancer, and others. And it will still be available to physicians to prescribe to their patients with those. And if they choose to prescribe is to women with breast cancer, it's still available.”
Some breast cancer patients disagree with the FDA’s ruling.
CNN’s Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen says there are conflicting views of Avastin’s effectiveness.
“But there have to be other women who say, Yes this medication absolutely helped me.”
“Yes there are. Right those women have actually been very vocal. I actually met one about a little over a year ago. Her name is __ __ and she had advanced breast cancer, and she said, when I met her that she got an extra year and a half of life. That’s what she felt Avastin helped her get and it gave her more time with her child... But then again there are other women who say I took Avastin and it gave me false hope and it actually made me sick. So there are women on both sides of this.”
As the debate continues, one Forbes writer applauds the FDA on making a tough decision.
“But the FDA’ decision is the right one, and, more than that, it’s actually good for the drug industry. If the FDA brass had backed down, it would have made scientists who work at the regulator or who advise it on expert advisory committees more reluctant to give accelerated approvals at all – and sent all the wrong messages to pharmaceutical companies, too.
CNBC reports that Avastin can still be used in eighty other countries to treat breast cancer.
