Washington, DCRoche, the maker of Avastin, has been granted a hearing by the Food and Drug Administration, the first of its kind, in which Roche will make its case for keeping the drug's indication for breast cancer.
The two day hearing will take place in June. The FDA recently ruled that Avastin is ineffective in the treatment of breast cancer.
Avastin is the best-selling cancer drug world-wide and is approved for the treatment of several different types of cancer including colon, lung, kidney and brain. The FDA has not questioned the effectiveness of the drug in these disease types.
According to a report by the Associated Press, the FDA ruled in December 2010 that recent studies have not shown Avastin to significantly extended or improve the lives of breast cancer patients. Consequently, the FDA began proceedings to revoke the drug's approval for treating breast cancer.