FRIDAY, Nov. 5, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- The Aventis drug Eloxatin has won a new approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be used in conjunction with chemotherapy following removal of a stage-3 malignant colon tumor, the company's Sanofi-Synthelabo division said Friday.
The new approval for the drug, first sanctioned by the FDA in January, was based on a 2,200-person study showing that the combination therapy reduced colon cancer recurrence by 24 percent among people who had their primary tumor removed, the company said in a statement.
Citing American Cancer Society estimates, the company said 106,370 new cases of colon cancer will be diagnosed this year. More than 56,000 people are expected to die in 2004 from the disease, making it the third most lethal form of cancer for both men and women.
To learn more about colon cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.
