Health
Amgen Drug Wins US Approval for Type of Advanced Lung Cancer
- New treatment has yet to be proven to extend survival
- Amgen will conduct further studies as part of FDA approval
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Amgen Inc. won US approval for a new drug to treat a particularly aggressive form of advanced lung cancer, providing a badly needed new option for patients when chemotherapy stops working.
Amgen’s drug is among the few treatments cleared for patients with small cell lung cancer whose tumors have stopped responding to chemo. The US Food and Drug Administration granted it accelerated approval, a shortcut to the market for urgently needed therapies, after a study showed it shrank tumors in about 40% of patients who received it after other treatments failed to work.