Merck KGaA: FDA approves kidney cancer treatment

(CercleFinance.com) - Germany's Merck said that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Bavencio, an anticancer drug that the group is jointly developing with Pfizer, in combination with axitinib for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.


The FDA's decision comes after a Phase III study showed the combination lowered the risk of disease progression or death by 31% and extended progression-free survival by 5.4 months.

In 2019, an estimated 73,820 new cases of kidney cancer will be diagnosed in the US, from which 14,770 people will die.

The five-year survival rate for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma is approximately 12%.

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