An FDA panel will meet on Wednesday to determine whether the labeling for the drug Avastin can now include breast cancer. Although the drug is approved in Europe to treat breast cancer and doctors use it in the United States to treat some breast cancer on an off-label basis, data from an Avastin study did nothing to show regulators that the drug improves the overall survival. In fact, the recent study concluded that the drug improved the all important “overall survival” less than a month.

This panel vote will help guide the administration when they decide in February whether to extend the label for the drug. Avastin has been on the U.S. market since 2004 and is approved to treat colorectal and lung cancers.

An analyst at Credit Suisse said he expects the Advisory Panel to recommend approval.

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