The Conversation (0)
Canadian media is reporting today that the cancer drug Avastin has been linked to two cases of flesh-eating disease and one death.
The CBC reports that Health Canada, in conjunction with the drug’s manufacturer, Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., issued a warning following an earlier warning from the US Food and Drug Administration. The company admits that many more cases of necrotizing fasciitis occurred over the past 15 years, reports CBC:
“Roche has conducted a comprehensive safety review that has identified 52 serious case reports of necrotizing fasciitis that occurred between November 1997 and September 2012, worldwide.”
“Two of these reports occurred in Canada. A total of 17 of the global cases reported a fatal outcome, including one Canadian death.”
Canadians will recognize the disease as the one that afflicted former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard in the 1990s. In a warning posted on its website, Health Canada describes necrotizing fasciitis as “a severe, life-threatening bacterial infection of the skin and soft tissue” from which some patients have died.
The FDA said in mid-March that cases have been mainly been seen in people who had wound-healing complications, gastrointestinal perforations or fistulas, according to CBC.
Avastin is used either alone to treat brain cancer or in combination with chemotherapy to treat colon, rectal and lung cancer. The medication works by stopping the tumour from forming new blood vessels.