FDA considers restricting production of breast cancer drug

[XNavyNuke]

Sources Confirm FDA Moving Ahead with Rationing (http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/12/16/exclusive-sources-confirm-fda-moving-ahead-with-rationing/)

XNN

[Acala]

Rationing is inevitable with the government takeover of health care. Govenment subsidy leads to price increases. Price increases lead to public outcry. Public outcry leads to price controls. Price controls lead to shortages. Shortages lead to rationing. Rationing leads to black market.

[Corydoras]

The backstory of Avastin is that the original scientific panel recommended against approving it for breast cancer, but political and industry pressure caused the FDA to overrule them.

There is no prohibition against a physician prescribing it off-label and the patient paying for it out of pocket.

[dannno]

So the FDA is the death panel.

[Corydoras]

The FDA is only going back to what its original scientific panel said, which was that Avastin wasn't good enough for breast cancer.

However, since Avastin is still on the market for other cancers, a doctor can still write a prescription for it. Insurance companies probably won't pay for it, but it's still available for self-pay.

The fundamental question is really whether the FDA should exist, whether that is a proper function of government or whether instead the food, drug, and cosmetic industries should be policing themselves.