EC approves Bayer's Nexavar for RCC

German drugmaker Bayer AG says that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for its oral drug Nexavar (sorafenib) for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), an aggressive form of kidney cancer, who have failed prior interferon-alpha or interleukin-2 based therapy or are considered unsuitable for such therapy.

Gunnar Riemann, head of Bayer HealthCare's pharmaceuticals division, welcomed the approval, saying that the drug has been shown to double median progression-free survival and noting that the decision follows a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's Committee on Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in April this year.