Here’s some data.

Dosage for Avastin for metastatic colorectal cancer is 5 mg/kg q14 days “until disease progression is detected,” implyng that Avastin is given every two weeks without an end point. Probably because the patient has metastatic or stage 4 disease.

For a 165 lb. or 75 kg. patient this works out to 375 mg every 2 weeks or 9,750 mg/year.

Avastin is packaged in 100 mg vials so this 75 kg. patient would require 98 vials per year.

The quoted RETAIL price of 98 vials of Avastin at Drugstore.com is $60,638.

I would assume that Genentech would sell Avastin for a lesser wholesale price.

So by my calculations, the price of a year of Avastin for metastatic colorectal cancer should be less than half the price in this news story.

Maybe there’s a different dosage for the off-label use for breast cancer.

Please correct me if my information is incorrect.