Did the media report the Avastin label revocation correctly? Predictably, the WSJ Opinion page missed the science boat, but the journalists – NYTimes, Reuters, ABC News, the Boston Globe, and even the WSJ news story – they all covered the essentials. My only quibble is with the lede for the Globe:
“The government delivered a blow to some desperate patients Friday as it ruled the blockbuster drug Avastin should no longer be used to treat advanced breast cancer.”
It wasn’t the government that delivered the blow. Genentech was the company that marketed a drug for billions of dollars to desperately ill women. A drug that we now know does not work, according to the best evidence we have at present. Don’t blame the FDA.
