NEW YORK (AP) – Pfizer Inc. said it filed for marketing approval of its drug candidate axitinib as a treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer.
The company is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval based on studies that showed patients who were treated with axitinib lived longer without disease progression than patients treated with Nexavar, a cancer drug that was approved in December 2005.
On June 1, Pfizer asked European Union regulators to approve axitinib as a treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma in patients who haven’t been helped by other therapies.
The New York drugmaker said about 210,000 people are diagnosed with kidney cancer every year, and about 102,000 patients die of the disease. It said around 20 percent of patients live five years or more.
Nexavar is marketed by Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Bayer HealthCare. The drug is also approved as a treatment for liver cancer.
Date: June 28, 2011
Source: Associated Press
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
