FDA Approves Colon Cancer Treatment
Associated Press
The government approved a new treatment for the nation’s second-leading cancer killer--after a record-setting seven-week review--a last-ditch chemotherapy for advanced-stage patients who have exhausted standard drugs.
When taking Eloxatin together with older drugs, about 9% of treated colon cancer patients saw their tumors shrink significantly and they gained about two months before the cancer started growing again. But until now these patients have had no other alternative once standard treatment failed.
The drug, made by the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synthelabo, was approved faster than any other cancer treatment; only AIDS drugs have passed through the FDA more quickly.
