Avastin is a cancer drug developed by Genentech, a portion of Roche Pharmaceuticals. The FDA endorsement for Avastin was conditional. The Food and Drug Administration allowed it to be used only pending specific studies. Now that those studies have been carried out, the endorsement has been removed. Source of article: Approval pulled for Avastin breast cancer drug



Reason for using Avastin



Avastin was at first authorized in 2008 through a provisional program created in the 1990s. The program was meant to put promising drugs on the industry while manufacturers finished the final studies necessary for full Food and Drug Administration market endorsement. Metastatic cancers that are all over the body are treated by Avastin, which proved to be promising at the start of treatment.



Treatment won’t contain Avastin anymore



The FDA decided that the drug could no longer be used to take care of metastatic breast cancer three years after authorization. Lots of people have gotten upset by this decision. A ton of the women believe they're only alive today because of Avastin. They say it cured their breast cancer. The statistics show that Avastin is not good enough. The drug doesn’t improve survival rates, the studies have shown. High blood pressure and other dangerous side effects are involved with Avastin also.



Hearing from Medicare



Avastin can be used for several other cancers besides metastatic breast cancer. Avastin was being used before the Food and Drug Administration authorization. It was listed for use in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network already. Medicare will cover Avastin for breast cancer still since it covers anything listed for cancer treatments. Avastin won't be covered anymore by several various insurance businesses. They have said they would not cover the treatment because it would be an off-label use. The recommendation of the Network will be used by several insurers though. Avastin treatment costs between $80,000 and $100,000 per year without insurance coverage. Insurance businesses generally pay between $58,000 and $80,000 per year for Avastin treatment.


Citations

Slate: http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/11/18/avastin_revoked_by_fda_no_longer_approved_for_breast_cancer_treatment.html

Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/11/18/fda-hits-avastin-saying-best-selling-breast-cancer-drug-does-not-work/

NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/business/fda-revokes-approval-of-avastin-as-breast-cancer-drug.html