Sidebar

Exclusive Reports

29
Fri, Mar

US Approves Drug To Prevent Kidney Cancer Relapse

Top News
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the use of Pfizer Inc’s cancer drug Sutent to help prevent kidney cancer from returning following surgical removal of a kidney.


Sutent was approved in 2006 for patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors and advanced kidney cancer. It is also approved for patients with a certain type of pancreatic cancer.

The expanded approval allows Pfizer to market the drug for patients who have already had surgery to remove a kidney to reduce the risk of the cancer returning. It is the first treatment to be used in this setting.

A clinical trial showed that after five years, 59.3 percent of patients treated with Sutent had not had a recurrence of cancer or death compared with 51.3 percent of patients taking a placebo.

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS