Avastin (chemical name: bevacizumab) is a targeted therapy that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in combination with Taxol (chemical name: paclitaxel) in February 2008 to treat people with metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer who haven't yet received chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer.
On Nov. 18, 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it had removed the breast cancer indication from Avastin because the drug has not been shown to be safe and effective for that use. The medicine itself is not being removed from the market and doctors can choose to use Avastin to treat metastatic breast cancer whether or not that particular use is officially approved by the FDA.
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Avastin is also approved by the FDA to treat advanced cancers of the lung, colon, and rectum.
The FDA's removal of the breast cancer indication will not affect those approvals.
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