HEALTH CARE
<i> Times Staff and Wire Reports</i>
FDA Panel Urges Approval of Lilly Cancer Drug: If approved by the agency, Gemzar will be the first drug specifically approved to treat pancreatic cancer. About 27,000 Americans receive diagnoses of that cancer each year. The disease is nearly always fatal. The benefits of the drug compared to traditional chemotherapy--which include less pain and weight loss and better functioning--persuaded the medical experts on the panel that Gemzar should be approved. Those benefits and the fact that pancreatic cancer patients have few other options outweighed concern that Eli Lilly & Co.’s studies couldn’t conclusively measure the drug’s benefit.
