Eli Lilly and Company has recently received its fourth approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its drug Alimta (pemetrexed), a chemotherapy drug used to treat mesothelioma. The most recent approval allows Alimta to be utilized as a maintenance therapy for locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Maintenance therapy for NSCLC is a new type of treatment that is given after chemotherapy, but before new tumor growth.
Richard Gaynor, vice president of cancer research and global oncology platform leader for Eli Lilly, said, “This FDA approval is encouraging news for non-small cell lung cancer patients, their caregivers and doctors. Previously, patients received best supportive care following their chemotherapy. Now physicians and patients have a new option to improve survival.”
In 2004, Eli Lilly received its first approval from the FDA for Alimta as a treatment option for malignant pleural mesothelioma patients. More specifically, it was approved in combination with cisplatin for those whose disease is unresectable or who are not eligible for curative surgery. During the same year, Alimta was approved for a second-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC after chemotherapy.
Alimta, in combination with cisplatin, was approved by the FDA for a third time in 2008 for a first-line treatment for locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC for patients with nonsquamous histology.
Representing 85 to 90 percent of all lung cancers, NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer. With the recent approval by the FDA, it is possible that patients suffering from lung cancer as a result of asbestos exposure may also benefit from the uses of Alimta as a treatment option.
The World Health Organization reports lung cancer is the world’s most common cancer and is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Their findings also reveal that more than one million people pass away from lung cancer each year.
The approval of Alimta as a maintenance therapy option for NSCLC patients is another giant leap for Eli Lilly and Company. With NSCLC resulting in more than 180,000 new cases in the United States each year, thousands of patients could benefit from this new method of maintenance therapy.
Additional information about mesothelioma may be found through the mesothelioma Center.