Advisory Panel Votes 12-1 to Reverse Avastin's Approval as a Breast Cancer Drug

 Avastin  is not helpful in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, and the drug's approval for this use should be withdrawn.

That's the verdict of an FDA advisory panel, whose 12-1 vote urges the FDA to remove breast cancer from the list of approved uses of the Genentech drug. The vote is specific to breast cancer and does not affect Avastin's approval for the treatment of colon, lung, brain, or kidney cancer.

Against the advice of a previous advisory committee, the FDA in 2008 gave Avastin "accelerated approval" for the treatment of spreading breast cancer, in combination with chemotherapy. As a condition of that approval, Genentech agreed to conduct two new clinical trials.

Survival rates for cancer patients have doubled in a generation, bringing hope that diagnosis of the disease is not the death sentence once feared.

People with breast, bowel, or ovarian cancers are twice as likely to live for another 10 years as patients diagnosed in the 1970s were, research has found.

Survival rates in a wide range of other cancers have also improved dramatically as a result of scientific advancements and better treatments.