Content about Cancer treatments

PHOENIX — A deal that would make a specialty pharmacy a distribution source for an oral-liquid drug may benefit breast cancer patients who have trouble swallowing pills.

Avella Specialty Pharmacy announced Monday a deal with Dara BioSciences that would make a distribution source for Soltamox (tamoxifen citrate) oral solution in the United States. The drug is the only available oral liquid formulation of tamoxifen, previously available in pill form only.

 SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Sagent Pharmaceuticals has launched a drug used to treat complications related to chemotherapy, the drug maker said.

The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company announced the launch of ondansetron injection, used to prevent nausea and vomiting associated with emetogenic cancer chemotherapy and also to prevent nausea and vomiting that follows surgery.

Various versions of the drug had sales of $49 million during the 12-month period that ended in June, according to IMS Health.

NEW YORK — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug made by Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb for treating a form of colorectal cancer, the two companies said.

Lilly and Bristol announced the approval of Erbitux (cetuximab) for treating colorectal cancer that is KRAS mutation-negative, expresses the epidermal growth factor receptor and has spread to other parts of the body, also known as metastasis. The drug is approved for use alongside a chemotherapy combination containing irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin, also known as FOLFIRI.

WASHINGTON — Pills for treating cancer have created numerous alternatives to spending hours in a clinic or at home receiving chemotherapy infusions, but risks of drug interactions remain, according to a new survey by the research arm of pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for treating the most common type of skin cancer, the agency said Monday.

The FDA announced the approval of Genentech's Erivedge (vismodegib) for adults with basal cell carcinoma who are not surgery or radiation therapy candidates and whose disease is locally advanced or has spread to other parts of the body.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new biotech drug for treating two types of lymphoma, the agency said Friday.

PARIS — An investigational drug helped patients survive longer when combined with chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for colorectal cancer that had spread to other parts of the body, according to results of a late-stage clinical trial announced by French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis and U.S.-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

The phase-3 trial combined the drug Zaltrap (aflibercept) with a combination of the chemotherapy drugs folinic acid (leucovorin), 5-fluorouracil and irinotecan, also known as the FOLFIRI regimen.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for late-stage skin cancer, the agency said Friday.

The FDA approved Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Yervoy (ipilimumab) for patients with melanoma that has spread to other parts of the body, also known as metastasis. More than 68,000 new cases of melanoma were diagnosed in the United States in 2010, and about 8,700 died from it, according to the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

SEATTLE — The Food and Drug Administration has approved biotech company Dendreon’s expansion of manufacturing capacity for an immunotherapy treatment for prostate cancer, Dendreon said Thursday.

The company said it would be able to increase the ability of Provenge (sipuleucel-T) manufactured at its plant in New Jersey by increasing the number of workstations to produce it from 12 to 48.

The treatment is designed to induce an immune response against prostatic acid phosphatase, an antigen present in most prostate cancers.

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. — 3Rx Skin Therapy has announced the introduction of a new skin care line to help repair and rejuvenate skin damaged by such cancer treatments as chemotherapy and radiation, and other dry skin issues caused by medical conditions.

SILVER SPRING, Md. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for breast cancer, the agency said Monday.

The FDA approved Eisai’s Halaven (eribulin mesylate) for patients with breast cancer that has spread and who have received at least two chemotherapy regimens for the disease in its late stages. More than 200,000 women will be diagnosed this year with breast cancer, and nearly 40,000 will die from it, making it the second leading cause of cancer-related death among women, according to the National Cancer Institute.

INGELHEIM, Germany Boehringer Ingelheim has started a late-stage clinical trial of a drug for treating breast cancer, the German drug maker said Friday.

The phase 3 trial, dubbed the “LUX-Breast 1” trial, will evaluate the drug afatinib in patients with advanced breast cancer. The drug is a tablet that BI said was the first to inhibit two chemicals involved in tumor growth -- the epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, and the human epidermal receptor, also known as HER2.