If the pharmaceutical industry didn't already turn me into a jaded person, I would still be feeling a bit of "so what" at what you're suggesting - and coming fr

If the pharmaceutical industry didn't already turn me into a jaded person, I would still be feeling a bit of "so what" at what you're suggesting - and coming from an almost-biochem-but-CS major studying for the MCAT right now, I can probably appreciate what you are trying to say a bit more than the average layman. Genentech have no problem at all whatsoever with most off-label uses of Avastin (e.g. ovarian cancer) and have subsequently added them to the label (and in some cases, like breast cancer, they had to be dropped from the label afterwards), but they actively refuse to do so for ophthalmic use presumably because it would chew into Lucentis profits which are practically an order of magnitude larger. Imagine if Avastin were wildly different from Lucentis - would this fingers-in-ears "lalalala" singing attitude (to be generous) to keeping the use off-label seem reasonable to you in the face of massive amounts of evidence supporting the idea that it is just fine? Literally their only excuse for doing so is that Lucentis exists, nothing else. Both drugs have a number of issues, both drugs could be used for a lot more than ophthalmic use, and both drugs are still kind of expensive ($50 vs $2000 in the US). Avastin is still a blockbuster for Genentech, don't forget - it is one of the best selling drugs in the US. And yes, I appreciate that drug development is expensive and I know companies have to work for their stockholders, but it's really hard to watch patients trying to make a decision about Avastin vs Lucentis at the end of the day. Maybe I'm wanting to be a mediocre doctor that just wants to help people, haha. But my father has retina issues and I have spent way too much time in waiting rooms overhearing his specialist convincing other patients that he has had an excellent track record with Avastin use as well as Lucentis and he wants to prescribe whichever costs the least out of pocket first. When some of his patients decide not to go with either drug because off label use is too scary for them and they can't afford Lucentis even though he tries to reason with them - those are people giving up their fucking _sight_ and a practically miraculously effective treatment for want of money and a successful scare campaign. And he is a specialist that (I did my research before we went to him) has a good background in research and clinical practice, as well as participating in some studies for Avastin and Lucentis alike, so I hope he has appreciated your argument before doing what he does, too. Perverse is an understatement here in my (not so honest) opinion.