The New York Times reported, “Blue Shield of California will no longer pay for the use of the drug Avastin to treat breast cancer, a sign that support for the widely debated and expensive treatment may be eroding among health plans.” The Times notes, “Blue Shield, with 3.2 million members, is apparently the first large insurance company to end payments since a federal advisory committee unanimously recommended in June that the Food and Drug Administration rescind Avastin’s approval as a treatment for breast cancer, saying the drug did not really help patients. Shortly after the F.D.A. advisory committee’s negative vote, a panel of breast cancer doctors convened by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an organization of major cancer hospitals, reaffirmed that Avastin was ‘an appropriate therapeutic option for metastatic breast cancer’…important because Medicare and UnitedHealthcare are supposed to pay for drugs listed in the cancer network’s guidelines.”
From the American Association for Justice news release.
