The Avastin Dilemma: Whether a few months of life worth $100K?

Tagged with a price that’s too high and unsustainable, health experts are now finding themselves in a catch-22 situation, typically trying to answer, “Whether a few months of life is worth $100K?” Genentech’s Avastin, a wonder-drug believed to be an optimal treatment for breast, colondefine and lung, is now facing a halt in approval for expanded use because of its price tag, FDA revealed.

Avastin, a therapeutic antibody designed to specifically inhibit the vasculardefine endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein, the drug simply interferes with the blood supply to a tumor, thus cutting its ability to grow and spread in the body.

Costing as much as $100,000 for its annual administration, there is a widespread debate weighing its benefits versus its price. Though approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in treating cancers of the breast, colondefine and lung, the drug is currently being tested in as many as 450 clinical trials for about 30 types of other cancers.

Trying to weigh its benefits versus its price, critics feel that though the drug can improve the quality of life, but the ‘quality of life’ centers on time to progression. It brings about a sense of well-being and an ability to carry out daily tasks without exhaustion or pain, but if the cancerdefine is not as aggressive, the symptoms are also reduced. So one cannot completely justify its cost, they say.

Moreover, Avastin is known to extend life for a few months over chemotherapy alone. But are a few months of life worth $100K? Though Avastin may give patients infrequent, but serious side effects, patients still have to deal with the side effects of chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, supporting the whopping cost of the drug, Arthur D. Levinson, Genentech's chief executive officer said, "The quest is to eliminate the disease. And, yes, there is going to be a cost to that."