The National Breast Cancer Coalition comments on a February 15 New York Times article "A Cancer Drug Shows Promise, at a Price That Many Can't Pay".

Just last month, at a gala event in San Francisco, the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund presented its Corporate Leadership award to Genentech, a company that has consistently demonstrated its commitment to breast cancer advocates and survivors. That made the revelations in a February 15 front-page article in the New York Times even more disturbing.

The article describes pricing policies at Genentech for the use of the drug Avastin in breast cancer. Genentech has signaled that, for breast and lung cancer, a year of Avastin will be priced at close to $100,000, which is double the already whopping cost of the treatment for colorectal cancer. In ongoing studies, the dose of Avastin in breast cancer is twice the concentration for colorectal cancer; however, the optimal dose has not been established and studies are being planned to answer this question. Moreover the article states that the additional production cost is minimal.

It should be noted that interim results from Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) E2100, a clinical trial of Avastin combined with chemotherapy, as first line treatment for metastatic breast cancer resulted in improved time to progression from just over six months to approximately 11 months compared to receiving chemotherapy alone (see NBCCF Analysis Avastin in First-Line Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer).

Genentech has already been criticized for excessively high prices for another breast cancer product, Herceptin. Furthermore, no research tells us how long someone should take either drug. The company claims that its pricing is based on the "value of innovation and the value of new therapies." The National Breast Cancer Coalition begs to differ. Innovative therapies and technologies are all for naught if no one can afford them. Breaking the back of a fragile health care system in order to please shareholders is a national tragedy--and a personal tragedy for the thousands of individuals with cancer.