Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. said Tuesday that European regulators have approved the sale of its new medicine for a type of advanced kidney cancer, The Associated Press reports.
The European Commission approved the use of Inlyta in adult patients with renal cell carcinoma who have already been treated unsuccessfully with certain other kidney cancer drugs.
Inlyta, known chemically as axitinib, is a pill that’s part of a promising new generation of targeted cancer drugs from Pfizer. It targets proteins that affect the growth and spread of tumors and the development of new blood vessels to feed those tumors.
A large study sponsored by New York-based Pfizer found the drug extended the time until patients’ cancer progressed to a median of 6.8 months, from 4.7 months in patients taking a standard kidney cancer drug.
Renal cell carcinoma is the sixth-leading cause of cancer deaths. About a third of patients are not diagnosed until the cancer has spread to multiple body parts, limiting chances of survival. Roughly half of patients worldwide whose cancer worsens after initial therapy are then given a second treatment, and Inlyta will now be a possible option for them.
