Negative data can linger for quite some time in the minds of regulators. Cancer specialist and FDA advisory panel member Aman Buzdar cast one of the 'no' votes against Genentech's Avastin, which failed to measure up in extending survival times of breast cancer patients. One of the key reasons for the vote: An earlier, negative study that Genentech ran. "You wonder why the second study was positive and the first study was negative," he told the WSJ's Health Blog.
Genentech, though, hasn't been dissuaded from its quest in winning an approval for breast cancer. Fortune reports that the company has three other breast cancer trials under way and believes at least one of them is a winner. And Fortune beat a drum roll of support for Genentech's stuffed pipeline. Disgruntled investors haven't been easy to persuade, though. They've been dumping stock, shaving off a big chunk of Genentech's equity value since news of the FDA vote hit.
- here's the Wall Street Journal's blog
- read the report from Fortune
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