Lilly's Gemzar wins 4th US cancer indication

US drug major Eli Lilly says that the Food and Drug Administration has approved Gemzar (gemcitabine HCl) for use in the treatment of women living with recurrent ovarian cancer, the anticancer drug's fourth domestic approval.

As part of its decision, the agency has specified that Gemzar be given in combination with the widely-used used drug carboplatin for women with advanced ovarian cancer that has relapsed at least six months after initial therapy. Clinical data submitted to the FDA showed that patients treated with a combination of the two drugs experienced a "significant improvement in progression-free survival and response rates compared to carboplatin alone." Lilly noted that ovarian cancer is the eighth most common form of cancer among women and recurs in 90% of those who are diagnosed and treated for the first time. According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 20,180 new cases of ovarian cancer in the USA this year.