FDA
approves Novartis drug as first-line treatment for
breast cancer
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[March 14, 2017] (Reuters)
- Novartis AG said on Monday that the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration had approved the company's experimental
drug, kisqali, as a first-line treatment for a type of breast cancer in
postmenopausal women, in combination with another breast cancer drug.
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The approval is based on a late-stage data, which showed that
kisqali, along with letrozole, met the main goal of progression-free
survival (PFS) at an interim analysis compared to patients treated
with letrozole alone.
More than half of patients taking kisqali plus letrozole remained
alive and progression-free at the time of the interim analysis, the
company said. (http://prn.to/2ngPbgY)
Kisqali, an oral drug, helps in slowing down the progression of
cancer by preventing two proteins called cyclin-dependent kinase 4
and 6 (CDK4/6). These proteins when over-activated can enable cancer
cells to grow and divide too quickly.
Kisqali, by targeting CDK4/6, helps in ensuring that cancer cells do
not continue to replicate uncontrollably.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in American women.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 250,000 women
will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2017.
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(Reporting by Dipika Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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