Avastin Enrollment Resumes

Genentech(DNA Quote) and its marketing partner Roche are resuming enrollment of a study on colon cancer drug Avastin after halting the accrual of new patients to investigate a number of deaths.

The decision follows a 60-day review by an independent data safety monitoring board to assess the occurrence of the heart-related and unexplained deaths.

Excluding deaths due to recurrent colon cancer, there were six deaths in patients receiving a chemotherapy regimen called Folfox-4, four deaths in patients receiving Folfox-4 plus Avastin and eight deaths in patients taking the Xelox chemotherapy regimen plus Avastin. ...