The FDA has approved a new drug to treat the most common type of lung cancer.
The drug, Cyramza (ramucirumab), is used to treat non-small-cell-lung cancer (NSCLC).
Lung cancer is expected to cause more than 50,000 deaths in the United States this year, with NSCLC accounting for about 85 percent of cases.
The drug was approved following a multi-year clinical trial at UCLA and other medical centers in 26 countries on six continents. Cyramza was administered to 1,200 patients after their cancer had worsened following first-line chemotherapy.
The patients in this trial were given the drug in combination with another drug, docetexal.
Twenty-three percent of patients responded to the combination treatment, which extended survival time on average more than 10 months.
“We are pleased to have access to a drug that lengthens survival time in a population of lung cancer patients who often have few treatment options, said Dr. Edward Garon, the lead investigator and a researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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