FDA Revokes Avastin for Advanced Breast Cancer Treatment

Avastin, a popular drug among women with advanced breast cancer, has been revoked by the FDA because there is no proof that it extends the lives of patients who take it and it presents dangerous side effects, including severe high blood pressure, massive bleeding, heart attack or failure and organ perforation.

Avastin is the world's best-selling cancer drug and is also used to treat forms of colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers. The FDA has not revoked it for treatment of those forms of cancer, just breast cancer.

CMS announced that Medicare will continue to cover the drug, but will also monitor the issue and evaluate coverage options as a result of the FDA's actions.

Avastin's manufacturer, Roche, plans to pursue a new Phase III study of Avastin in combination with the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel in previously untreated metastatic breast cancer.

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