Lung cancer treatment gets FDA approval


Genentech Inc. has received federal approval to sell the drug Avastin for treatment of the most common kind of lung cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the drug in combination with chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer, the South San Francisco company (NYSE: DNA - News) said Wednesday. Genentech has a manufacturing plant in Vacaville.

In a clinical trial of 878 people, 51 percent of patients treated with Avastin and chemotherapy were still alive after one year compared to 44 percent of those who only received chemotherapy. The median survival rate was two months longer for patients who took Avastin than those who got chemotherapy alone.

Lung cancer kills 162,000 people per year in the United States, more than any other type of cancer.

Genentech said it would cap the price of the drug at $55,000 per year. Treatment of colorectal cancer with Avastin costs less than $4,400 per month, but lung cancer treatment requires higher doses at a typical cost of $8,800 per month.

The FDA approved use of the drug for colorectal cancer in February 2004.

Published October 12, 2006 by the Sacramento Business Journal