Quotes of the Day

When the FDA approved Genentech's colorectal cancer drug Avastin last week, it also validated a cancer-fighting strategy proposed more than 30 years ago. Avastin is the first in what researchers hope will be a whole new class of drugs called angiogenesis inhibitors, which attack tumors by thwarting their ability to create blood vessels — thus starving cancer cells of oxygen and nutrients. In trials, Avastin has been shown to give patients, on average, an additional five months of life. Cost of a 10-month course of treatment: about $50,000.

• David Bjerklie