written on 11.06.2014

Italy's move to fund unapproved use of Roche's Avastin alarms the industry

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In the U.S. pushing drugs for unapproved uses has gotten companies into big trouble. In Italy, the opposite is now true. To save money, the government will pay for patients to be treated for an eye disease with Roche's Avastin, a drug not approved for that use, and has taken legal action against the Swiss drugmaker and marketing partner Novartis for steering physicians toward the pricier Lucentis, which is.