FDA Clears Avastin for Breast Cancer

The FDA has approved a drug currently prescribed to treat lung and colon cancer for use on breast cancer patients, the AP reports. The decision defies the advice of the FDA's own advisory panel, which recommended that Avastin not be used to treat breast cancer on the grounds that it slowed tumor growth without increasing life expectancy. Patient advocates are thrilled with the ruling.

Avastin has long been prescribed “off-label” by doctors who appreciate its effect on tumor growth. Others in the field are skeptical, even worried that a focus on shrinking tumors might cause people to “stop looking at survival as the most important endpoint.” To others, the point seems moot; one advocate praises the effects of Avastin “because they give patients hope.” (More breast cancer stories.)