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FDA approves Genentech's Avastin for breast cancer


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators approved Genentech Inc's cancer drug, Avastin, for the treatment of breast cancer, the company said on Friday.

    Avastin, which was already approved to treat colon and lung cancer, is considered Genentech's most important drug by Wall Street analysts. It had U.S. sales of $2.3 billion in 2007 and the expanded approval to include breast cancer should boost sales significantly.

    The FDA decision comes after the U.S. biotechnology company said last week that a study of Avastin in combination with chemotherapy significantly prolonged progression-free survival in breast cancer patients.

    A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel in December had narrowly voted to recommend rejecting Avastin for breast cancer, saying data from an earlier study were insufficient to establish that the benefits of the drug outweighed toxicity risks in this patient population.

    (Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Andre Grenon)