FDA APPROVES DRUG TO COMBAT PANCREAS CANCER.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A drug that offers victims of a deadly form of cancer the chance of a few more months of life was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday Thursday: see week. . Eli Lilly Eli Lilly can refer to:
Malignant tumour of the pancreas. Risk factors include smoking, a diet high in fat, exposure to certain industrial products, and diseases such as diabetes and chronic pancreatitis. Pancreatic cancer is more common in men. in 30 years. Pancreatic cancer will strike about 26,000 Americans this year, and most will die within months because victims generally do not show symptoms of the disease until late in its course. Less than 10 percent of all pancreatic cancer patients live more than a year after diagnosis, Lilly said. In tests on humans that compared Gemzar with the most commonly prescribed pre·scribe v. pre·scribed, pre·scrib·ing, pre·scribes v.tr. 1. To set down as a rule or guide; enjoin. See Synonyms at dictate. 2. To order the use of (a medicine or other treatment). drug to treat pancreatic cancer, Roche Holding Ltd.'s 5-Fluorouracil, or 5-FU, approximately a quarter of patients treated with Gemzar showed improvement. In the tests, in which 63 patients were treated with Gemzar and the same number with 5-FU, Gemzar patients had a median survival of 5.7 months compared with 4.2 months for those who received 5-FU. The tests showed that 46 percent of the patients taking Gemzar had a probability of surviving for six months compared with 29 percent for 5-FU. |
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