TUESDAY, Aug. 4, 2009 (HealthDay News) -- The drug Avastin has been approved in the United States for treating people with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Avastin to be used in combination with the drug interferon-alpha, Agence France Presse reported.
A study found that people treated with a combination of the drugs lived nearly twice as long without disease progression compared to people treated with only interferon-alpha.
Since the end of 2007, Avastin has been available in Europe as a first-line treatment for advanced kidney cancer, AFP reported. Last week, European officials approved the drug for treatment of breast cancer.
More information
The FDA has more about this drug's history.
