Hooray for the FDA!

There's a headline you were not expecting in ThreeSources. Certainly not from me.

But they passed -- mirabile dictu -- the moral test I linked to the other day.

Going against the recommendation of its advisory panel, the Food and Drug Administration cleared Genentech's Avastin, which is already approved for treating lung and colon cancer, based on findings that it slowed tumor growth.

The agency has traditionally approved drugs for late-stage cancer if they extended, or improved the quality of, patients' lives. Avastin showed neither, according to Genentech's application.

This is excellent news. Too bad all three major candidates still in the running consider the biotech and pharma sectors to be evil.

I beat up on the FDA enough, however, I owe them some public approbation when they get one right. Well done, gang.

Pharmaceuticals Posted by jk at February 22, 2008 4:41 PM