WEDNESDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) — The blockbuster cancer
drug Avastin got soundly rejected late Wednesday as a treatment for
metastatic breast cancer by a U.S. health advisory panel that found the
medication was not effective and causes dangerous side effects.
By unanimous vote, the panelists rejected the drug maker’s appeal of a
U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommendation last December to revoke
Avastin’s approval for breast cancer. The FDA recommendation cited the
medication’s poor performance in follow-up studies and its potential for
serious side effects.
The drug maker, Genentech, now owned by pharmaceutical giant Roche, was
given an unusual two-day hearing this week before the six-member advisory
group.
Tuesday’s opening-day hearing was dominated by patients and physicians
who argued, often emotionally, against the drug’s revocation.
“For the patients and their supporters, it was the reality that many of
them were alive and well with few symptoms, which they and their
physicians
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