The
U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently revoked approval of Avastin
for treating breast cancer. The reversal was in response to clinical
trials showing that the drug’s benefit was short-lived, with breast
cancer patients quickly relapsing and the cancer becoming more invasive
and metastatic.
§ Chemotherapy treatment for some cancers may actually encourage tumours to grow, researchers have claimed.
§ The treatment triggers the healthy body cells around the tumour to produce a protein that helps the disease to resist treatment.
§ The surprise discovery suggests that some forms of the cancer treatment are doing more harm than good.
