Two years ago, I mentioned once, that the pricy price tag of Avastin was bullshit. Genetech doubled the price of Avastin when they wanted to use it for breast cancer from the cost of colon and lung cancer usage. All they did was fiddle with the dosage. And, even two years ago, Gentech was planning on charging breast cancer patients (predominately women) double the amount colon and lung cancer patients were being charged.
Well, Gentech had to go through their particular hoops before the FDA would formally approve the drug for use in breast and lung cancers. Now, earlier this year, I noted that Andrew von Eschenbach ignored the fact that Avastin did not live up to it’s purported claims for advanced breast cancer patients, which the advisory committee noted when they DID NOT approve Avastin for use in breast cancer patients. It was von Eschenbach that went against the advisory committee and approved Avastin for bc patients. (Will someone start looking into how much von Eschenbach has been paid by Genetech for this approval?)
Now, the NY Times has a spread in today’s paper that, guess what? Avastin doesn’t fucking work. Women with advanced breast cancer are payng $100,000 a year for “hope.”
But there is another side to Avastin. Studies show the drug prolongs life by only a few months, if that. And some newer studies suggest the drug might be less effective against cancer than the Food and Drug Administration had understood when the agency approved its uses.
The advisory committee knew that Avastin did not live up to it’s claims for advanced breast cancer as we see about 2/3rds of the way through the article:
The third approval for Avastin, for advanced breast cancer, came in February of this year. The clinical trial found it significantly slowed the progression of cancer but did not significantly extend life. The F.D.A. went against its own panel of outside experts, who had voted 5 to 4 against approval.
I noted at the time von Eschenbach went against the advisory committee and approved Avastin, that the drug failed to show that the benefits outweighed the risks and quality of life was not improved for advanced breast cancer patients, which are two standards the advisory committee looks at while deciding to approve a drug or not. Additonally, it has not been lost on me that, of all people, it is Sen. Grassley that has “championed” the bilking of ill patients by the pharmaceuticals and bio-tech companies.
It turns out that colon and lung cancer patients on Avastin are in the same boat as advanced breast cancer patients — that Avastin is not living up to it’s claims.
In February 2004, 15 years after Dr. Ferrara’s initial discovery, the Food and Drug Administration approved Avastin for patients with advanced colon cancer. A blockbuster was born.
But now there is a question mark over that evidence. That first exciting result compared Avastin with a type of chemotherapy that has since been widely replaced by a more effective regimen.
In a later, larger study comparing Avastin with current chemotherapy, Avastin slowed the growth of tumors but did not extend life by an amount considered statistically significant.
And the results for lung cancer patients:
But as with colon cancer, a newer study adding Avastin to a different chemotherapy regimen has raised questions about its effectiveness against lung cancer. The study’s Avastin patients lived no longer than those who got the chemotherapy plus placebo. Although the drug did slow the median time until progression of tumors, the difference was less than a month.
There are some people that are willing to pay to live one or two months longer. But, how much is that month or two (or up to 4 months) worth in real dollars? And who is Gentech to decide the worth in real dollars? Worse yet, who is Gentech to sell you hope at the highest price?
