Pfizer Drug Wins FDA Panel’s Backing for Pancreatic Cancer

Pfizer Inc. won a U.S. panel’s backing to expand marketing of a cancer drug for patients with the rare type of pancreatic tumor diagnosed in Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs in 2004.

The medicine, Sutent, works sufficiently to outweigh potential risks, outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration said today in an 8-2 vote in White Oak, Maryland. The panel concluded earlier today that Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG’s Afinitor is effective for the same illness. The FDA usually follows its advisory committees’ recommendations.