| OSI
drug wins OK in Europe OSI Pharmaceuticals
of Melville and Roche Holding AG, the
Swiss drug company, said yesterday that
the European Commission had approved their
joint marketing of OSI's Tarceva, a cancer
medication combined with Gemzar, the Eli
Lilly chemotherapy agent, to treat pancreatic
cancer.
The Food and Drug Administration approved
Tarceva for non-small cell lung cancer
in 2004. In 2005, the agency approved
Tarceva combined with Gemzar for first-line
treatment of patients who have not received
previous chemotherapy for locally advanced,
inoperable or metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Gabriel Leung, president of OSI Oncology,
said, "Advanced pancreatic cancer
is very difficult to treat, and it is
an important advance that Tarceva, when
combined with gemcitabine, has been shown
to produce a statistically significant
increase in survival in a cancer where
the average life expectancy for a newly
diagnosed patient is only about four months."
The World Health Organization estimates
that more than 216,000 people worldwide
have pancreatic cancer. In the United
States, the disease is the fifth-leading
cause of cancer deaths.
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