Late Stage Pancreatic Cancer Drug Approved by the FDA

The Food and Drug Administration approved a drug for late-stage pancreatic cancer, according to the New York Times.

Celgene's drug Abraxane was approved for use in treating advanced pancreatic cancer, supplementing the thin arsenal available to fight the disease. In a clinical trial, Abraxane was reported to have prolonged the lives of patients by a little less than two months on average.

Pancreatic specialists have said the drug was a welcome, if modest, advance against a disease that is extremely tough to treat. "Patients with pancreatic cancer are often diagnosed after the cancer has advanced and cannot be surgically removed," said Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of cancer drugs for the FDA. "In these situations and in situations where the cancer has progressed following surgery, options like Abraxane can help prolong a patient's life."

There will be about 45,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed in the United States this year and about 38,000 deaths, making it the fourth-leading cause of cancer death. Patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer typically live only half a year. For years, researchers have tried to improve that by adding drugs to the standard treatment, gemcitabine, but without notable success.

Abraxane did provide a statistically significant improvement in survival. In its main clinical trial, patients who received Abraxane and gemcitabine lived a median of 8.5 months, compared to 6.7 months for those receiving only the latter.

Abraxane will be competing against Folfirinox, a combination of four generic drugs. Folforinox appears to extend survival by a greater amount than Abraxane, but doctors say it is much more difficult to tolerate and administer. Abraxane is a novel form of paclitaxel, also known by the brand name Taxol.