首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The FDA may rescind its approval of Avastin, a colon-cancer drug. If the summer of 2009 was the season of "death panels," as
The FDA may rescind its approval of Avastin, a colon-cancer drug. If the summer of 2009 was the season of "death panels," as
admin
2014-06-02
83
问题
The FDA may rescind its approval of Avastin, a colon-cancer drug.
If the summer of 2009 was the season of "death panels," as the debate over health-care reform exploded, this is the season of "17. 5k dead women a year. " That’s the body count scaremongers are predicting if the Food and Drug Administration rescinds its provisional approval of the drug Avastin for metastatic breast cancer, a decision expected by year’s end. Although the move has nothing to do with the new health-care law, uncertainty about "Obama-care" has given opponents an opening to terrify people about what’s coming—like bureaucrats rationing health care to save money.
The reality is far different and, for those who care more about helping cancer patients than about scoring political points, much sadder. That’s because in 2008, when the FDA gave "fast track" approval for Avastin in breast cancer that has metastasized—usually to the lungs, bones, liver, or brain—it was conditional on the manufacturer, Genentech, running additional clinical trials of the drug’s safety and efficacy. There was good reason for that. Avastin is an angiogenesis inhibitor, a class of cancer drugs that have not lived up to their hype: although they stop one mechanism by which malignant cells grow blood vessels to sustain them, the cells often activate a different mechanism and go on proliferating.
Although Avastin does extend the lives of patients with metastatic colorectal and kidney cancer, and remains FDA-approved for those uses, the new studies show it does not work the same miracle against metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Instead, Avastin increased what’s called progression-free survival (how long before cancer spreads or grows) by about one to three Weeks, depending on which chemo agent it was paired with. But it did not keep women alive any longer than chemo alone. To some advocates, progression-free survival without an increase in overall survival is still welcome, since it suggests patients have a better quality of life during their last months.
But it’s hard to make that case for Avastin. Not only did it not keep women alive, but it also caused hypertension, hemorrhaging, bowel perforations, and other side effects. "It seems as if the drug’s toxicity cancels out any benefit," cancer surgeon David Gorski of the Karmanos Cancer Institute told me. Perforated bowels do not equal a better quality of life.
These dismal results are what led an FDA panel to vote 12—1 in July to rescind the conditional approval of Avastin for MBC. Critics of health-care reform, predictably, saw nefarious motives—in particular, evidence that Obamacare will ration expensive drugs. (Avastin costs some $88,000 a year, though few patients live that long.) The Wall Street Journal editorialized about the "Avastin mugging," and Sen. David Vitter accused the FDA of "assigning a value to a day of a person’s life. "
If Avastin did extend lives for, let’s say, $ 10,000 a day, Vitter might have a case. But it doesn’t extend life at all. That makes allegations like the 17,500 dead women (from a right-wing blag) "utter demagoguery of the most vile and despicable sort," Gorski wrote on the blog Science-Based Medicine.
There are stories galore of women with metastatic breast cancer who are alive "because of Avastin." Indeed, patients have been flooding the airwaves and blogosphere with claims that Avastin helped them. But the only way to tell whether Avastin deserves the credit for keeping patients alive is through large studies. "There are always patients who live longer than average," biostatistician Donald Berry of the MD?Anderson Cancer Center told me. "They attribute it to the treatment; people love to make attributions." But when the proportion of patients alive at any given time in a study is the same whether they are receiving Avastin or not—as the two large trials found—then crediting Avastin is "very likely wrong. " That some women did live longer on Avastin, Berry explained, "may simply reflect the natural heterogeneity of the disease and say nothing about the therapy. "
Doctors can keep prescribing Avastin for metastatic breast cancer off-label, though insurers will not pay for it. Some activists welcome that. There is "no evidence of clinical benefit from Avastin, yet there is harm," says Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition. "We need to demand more of treatment before we unleash it on the public. " Science-based medicine isn’t always pretty. But it’s better than politics-based medicine, which is what some critics of the Avastin decision are practicing—and much better than deluding ourselves into thinking something works when it doesn’t.
What does "scaremonger" mean in the second paragraph?
选项
A、A prophet who can predict what will happen in the future.
B、A person who spreads frightening rumors and stirs up trouble.
C、A scientist who is specialized in medicine.
D、A sociologist who is concerned about social issues.
答案
B
解析
该题考查考生的词汇量和对上下文的理解。“scaremonger”预测一年有17500名女性死亡,所以最为合适的意思是“危言耸听者”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/IVpO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
WhichofthefollowingisNOTthecrimecommittedbythemen?
Attheturnofthe18thand19thcenturies______appearedinEnglandasanewtrendinliterature.
A、TheinitialsBBCstandforBritishBroadcastingCorporation.B、It’sapubliccorporation.C、Thegovernmentcan’tcontrolit.D
Insteadofsaying"Thelionbeattheunicornallroundthetown."theysay"Allaroundthetownthelionbeattheunicorn."The
Christmasisasadseason.ThephrasecametoCharlieaninstantafterthealarmclockhadwokenhimandnamedforhimanamorph
______isasituationwheretwovarietiesofalanguageexistsidebysidethroughoutthecommunity,witheachhavingadefinite
DisappearingActTherehavebeenrumors.There’sbeengossip.AllHollywoodisshockedtolearnthatCalistaFlockhart,star
Itisasuccessinsofarasmorewomenretaintheiryouthfulappearancetoagreateragethaninthepast."Oldladies"area
Probablyforaslongastherehavebeensalesforces,managershavesoughtwaystodeterminewhethertheyareeffectiveornot.
随机试题
根据定金罚则,给付定金的一方不履行约定债务的,无权要求返还定金,收受定金的一方不履行约定债务的,应当_______。
免疫组织化学过程不包括
尖锐湿疣好发于:
鹅口疮心脾积热证的首选方剂是
自截肾的X线征像表现为
等直杆的受力情况如图5-1所示,则杆内最大轴力FNmax和最小轴力FNmin分别为()。
当按工程项目施工层次划分系统控制过程时,( )的质量控制是最基本的质量控制。
【2015年安徽.单选】学生上课思想开小差、心不在焉,教师突然加重语气是为了引起学生的()。
平衡计分卡方法认为,组织应从()角度审视自身业绩。
请在【答题】菜单下选择【进入考生文件夹】命令,并按照题目要求完成下面的操作。注意:以下的文件必须都保存在考生文件夹下。小李是东方公司的会计,利用自己所学的办公软件进行记账管理,为节省时间,同时又确保记账的准确性,她使用Excel编制了2
最新回复
(
0
)