New ’biologic’ drug made by Pfizer. This targets lung cancer and costs roughly 6,800 pounds or $11,000 US a month. The mean increased survival time in research was 6 months.
It was approved by the FDA in August 2011 to treat certain patients with late-stage (locally advanced or metastatic), non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) who express the abnormal anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene. It is therefore only approved with the test for ALK so as to avoid causing false hope and wastage.
In June 2012 Pfizer presented a study showing that the drug outperformed both pemetrexed and docetaxol, claiming It is superior to standard chemotherapy in prolonging survival without progression in patients with previously-treated ALK-positive advanced NSCLC.
There is little information on side-effects. You should question your doctor about this.
Go to: 10 ways to improve your chemotherapy success and reduce side-effects
Other articles that you may find interesting are:
- A diet for Chemotherapy
- Immunotherapy overview
- A to Z Guide to Complementary Therapies
Go to: Return to the CANCERactive drug list