Avastin News =A call for help

I don't know if you all are aware but the FDA advisory panel voted 12-1 to pull avastin for mbc patients. I am posting this on the mets forum and the triple negative forum in that even if you aren't mets, being triple negative, avastin can be a wonderful drug option and if you are metastatic like me, it is the only drug I can take being NED as I am. I took carbo, taxol and avastin for 6 mos, became NED and have been on avastin alone for 17 mos still NED. It took less than a year for my cancer to metasticize to my lungs after my original diagnosis because I had "nothing" to take to keep it from coming back/spreading. So I feel like I am ahead of the game. I have few side effects, and most have improved with time. I Know many of you have taken avastin in the past and may or may not have ahd a good run with it. I am hoping that we can get a letter writing campaign together to speak up to the FDA for those of us who have nothing else to take.

The med is not being pulled for safety reasons, it was just the studies didn't show that it extended lives as long as they thought it should to bear out the risk of the side effects/complications. They know that this drug is a miracle drug for some of us but they don't have the clinical trial information on us specifically to back up a fight to the fda. This would be a huge disservice and frankly a earlier death sentence to many of us triple negatives.  Several organizations are working with Genentech (the makers of Avastin) to see what can be done on our behalves. If you want to speak up for us or potentially yourselves as you never know if you will need this drug in your arsenal, please let me know. I will be posting some more information as I get it.

The Young Surviviors Coalition, Inspire and TNBC are all getting polls together on women who have been on this med. If any of you know anybody with any connections, please feel free to contact me.....Oh, and if you want to write your experience with avastin to me where I can share it with outsiders, please PM me as I would not share anything on this site without your permission but am looking for stories in support of keeping the drug as an option. I know some women who it did not help or that they had side effects and stopped the drug but even most of them are speaking up so that we don't lose this drug as an option to treat MBC. Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated. thanks Christi

Genentech press release: http://www.gene.com/gene/news/press-releases/display.do?method=detail&id=12887

CNN Story: http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/20/panel-revoke-drugs-use-in-breast-cancer/