Death Panels

Feds Revoke Approval of Life-Prolonging Treatment for Breast Cancer, Insurers Could Bail on Patients

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/feds-revoke-approval-of-life-prolonging-treatment-for-breast-cancer-insurers-could-bail-on-patients/

For those unfamiliar, Avastin is a targeted therapy drug used in conjunction with chemotherapy in the treatment of certain advanced cancers — primarily colorectal, kidney, and lung, but also breast cancer. The drug works by restricting the blood supply to tumors. The goal is to starve tumors of the precious blood needed to grow, thus shrinking them. While the drug carries with it serious side effects, it has been proven successful in suppressing tumor growth in various types of cancers.
Now, however, the FDA is revoking its approval of Avastin in the treatment of advanced breast cancer only. This means that doctors can still prescribe the drug to breast cancer patients as they deem fit, but insurers now might not cover the exorbitant cost. A year’s supply of Avastin can cost roughly $100,000.
For people with certain types of advanced cancers for which there is no cure, Avastin is sometimes the last-line of defense in suppressing tumor growth and preventing the cancer from metastasizing for a prolonged period of time, improving prognosis.
Now, breast cancer patients who have been receiving the drug with good results are faced with a very difficult challenge ahead, especially if their insurers decide not to cover the cost of treatment. The Wall Street Journal notes the “chillingly blunt assertion of regulatory power against a drug for breast cancer.” In this instance, the power of a federal agency is outweighing doctors and their patients — the ones who have the most to lose The extraordinary Avastin saga has become a kind of randomized controlled trial, pitting the Food and Drug Administration’s power against potentially life-saving drugs for terminally ill patients. The results are proving that the former is far stronger, with FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg’s decision yesterday to withdraw the biologic medicine as a treatment option for women with metastatic breast cancer.

Read The Rest:  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/feds-revoke-approval-of-life-prolonging-treatment-for-breast-cancer-insurers-could-bail-on-patients/