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Treatment leads to complications

By Zheng Jinran (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-09-10 15:00
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Patients at Shanghai First People's Hospital are experiencing serious side effects after getting injections of Avastin, and 55 patients even had loss of vision, said a statement released by the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau on Thursday.

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About 80 patients felt pain in their eyes after the treatment, and doctors confirmed that they got endophthalmitis, an inflammation of the eyeball, and that those with serious blindness will get surgical treatments.

The statement added that experts have already investigated that case at the hospital and that all the patients were in stable condition.

Avastin - developed by Roche group, a Swiss health-care company - was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for cancers that are metastatic, such as metastatic colon cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. In 2009, sales of Avastin were nearly $5.9 billion.