The pricey cancer drug 'Avastin' has finally received approval, as a first-line of treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer, by Alberta on Thursday. The decision is a significant one, more so as colorectal cancer - or cancer of the colon or rectum - happens to be the second main cause of cancer deaths in Canada.

Though Alberta had at first rejected Avastin from medicare coverage, despite the fact that the drug has been approved for use in Canada since 2005, now joins British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, in the approval of the cancer drug.

Making the announcement about Avastin in the legislature, Health Minister Ron Liepert said that Avastin will be added Alberta's list of approved drugs beginning April 1. However, those who have already paid for the drug till its official approval will not be reimbursed.

Liepert said it was on the basis of a recent decision by an expert panel, deliberating on Avastin, that the drug's approval for coverage in Alberta at a cost of up to $5 million a year had been finalized.

The minister said: "The committee has taken a second look at it now after the drug has been on the market for three years. It has now been deemed to have had enough usage that they can actually make a determination of its value."