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The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to revoke approval of Roche’s Avastin for advanced breast cancer is likely to curtail use of the $6 billion-a-year drug for such patients. But it’s not likely to put an end to prescribing.

Today’s action doesn’t affect the drug’s other approved uses, which include certain types of colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers, the FDA said. And physicians are free to prescribe an approved drug for any use they see fit.

Human Cells, Rodent Brains: Research published in Nature describes how scientists treated Parkinson’s disease in mice and rats by converting human embryonic stem cells into nerve cells that released the neurotransmitter dopamine, then transplanting the cells into the rodents’ brains, the WSJ reports. Further animal studies are necessary before the technique could be tested in humans, the paper says.

In an interview with WSJ’s Dennis Berman, GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty discusses why the drug maker is forgoing profits from the malaria vaccine it’s developing for children in Africa-and why he believes his company has a soul.

Here is the original:  Does a Company Have a Soul?/a>

At first blush, Washington’s tough talk about fiscal austerity doesn’t look good for drug makers. Government programs including Medicare and Medicaid spend $99 billion each year on prescription medicines, according to Washington consulting firm Avalere Health, making for a ripe cost-cutting target.

Ask anyone who’s spent time in the hospital — patients get a lot of blood taken over the course of their stay.

Pfizer is hoping to milk even more dollars from its blockbuster Lipitor by introducing an over-the-counter version of the cholesterol-lowering drug, the WSJ reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Surgical Threat?: U.S. officials are warning that terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosive devices in would-be suicide bombers, who then might board planes; surgeons tell the WSJ the medical procedure itself wouldn’t be that difficult. Breast, pectoral or buttock implants could be filled with liquid explosives and explosive implants could be placed in the chest cavity or elsewhere, experts tell the paper.

A new paper offers a possible road map for getting more drugs approved to treat rare diseases. One key recommendation: improving access to the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway, originally developed to quickly get treatments to patients with life-threatening diseases.

Coverage Decisions: Medicare will cover Dendreon’s Provenge for certain forms of advanced prostate cancer, calling the $93,000 treatment “reasonable and necessary,” the WSJ reports. (Here’s the decision memo.) Medicare will also continue to cover Roche’s Avastin for breast-cancer patients, even if the FDA follows the advice of its outside advisory committee and revokes approval for that use, the New York Times reports.