The Hill News

March is National Women’s History Monthâ€"a time to celebrate the contributions that women have made to America. But this year, celebration may be difficult for some desperately ill women worried about losing access to one of the few drugs proven to give them longer, healthier lives.

One of those women is my mother. In 2008, she was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. She was expected to live just months longer. But thanks to a series of treatments in combination with a drug called Avastin, she’s still with us.

In the future, though, other women with cancer might not be so lucky. Although Avastin has been shown to be effective against many kinds of cancer, in June the Food and Drug Administration will hold a final hearing on whether to strip Avastin of the “fast-track”approval it won as a breast cancer treatment in 2008.

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