French plan to allow use of Avastin in AMD on cost grounds
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
The French health authorities are taking steps to implement a new legislative provision that would allow Roche's anti-VEGF product Avastin (bevacizumab) to be used to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) on the grounds that it is much cheaper than Novartis' Lucentis (ranibizumab), even though Avastin is not approved for this condition.