Content about Oncology

BURLINGTON, Mass. — Chemotherapy drugs made by Johnson & Johnson and Merck will become the standard second-line treatment for ovarian cancer within the decade, replacing a treatment made by Bristol-Myers Squibb and generic versions, according to a new report by market research firm Decision Resources.

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.

HAYWARD, Calif. Prince of Peace Enterprises on Thursday announced its sponsorship of the 15th annual Susan G. Komen Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Race for the Cure under its Tiger Balm external analgesic brand.

LONDON The Food and Drug Administration has accepted AstraZeneca’s regulatory application for an investigational cancer drug, the Anglo-Swedish drug maker said Thursday.

AstraZeneca announced the FDA’s acceptance of its application for vandetanib, a drug for treating patients with advanced medullary thyroid cancer. The agency gave the drug priority review status and expected to take action on it in January.

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.