FDA not approved Avastin for breast cancer treatment

Avastin is a known cancer drug and it is used for the treatment of colon cancer and some other cancers. But this cancer drug is a false hope in the treatment of breast cancer, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA ruled that Avastin should not be used more to treat the breast cancer because it doesn’t give patients enough other benefits to prevail over its risky side effects or doesn’t help them to live longer. The approval of this drug for breast cancer patients has been revoked by the federal agency and this decision came after 5 months of an FDA advisory committee recommendation.

Clinical trials had illustrated that Avastin was not helping breast cancer patients to control their tumors significantly, instead it had expose them to eventually serious side effects such as hemorrhaging and severe high blood pressure, as said by Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, the commissioner of FDA. The administration has promised to take judgment on the basis of science and this made it complicated for Dr. Hamburg to defy the conclusions of the FDA’s team and the outside experts of advisory committee. Dr. Hamburg said that, Sometimes the results of cautious testing can be disappointing despite the expectations of industry, patients, investigators and even the FDA itself and this is happened with Avastin for the treatment of advanced breast cancer.

Avastin was approved by FDA in 2008, for metastatic breast cancer. This approval became controversial because an FDA advisory panel had blow against it. In December 2010, The FDA moved to revoke the approval of Avastin for breast cancer patients, but drug's manufacturer challenged the agency. So this news is disappointed for Genentech, the manufacturer of Avastin, which fought tough and long to sustain the approval. And this decision will lead to a lost up to $1 billion in annual sales of Genentech and its Swiss parent company. Avastin will be available in the market for the treatment of other types of cancers such as colon, lung and kidney cancer.