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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEli Lilly and Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. won U.S. approval to expand marketing of the cancer drug Erbitux for late-stage head and neck tumors.
The Food and Drug Administration cleared the medicine for use with chemotherapy to treat patients with head and neck cancer that has spread, the agency said Monday in a prepared statement.
Erbitux, made by Indianapolis-based Lilly’s ImClone unit, already is approved in the U.S. to treat colon cancer and head and neck tumors that haven’t spread.
Bristol-Myers, based in New York, generated $662 million in 2010 sales from the drug, while Lilly’s manufacturing revenue was $71.9 million. Lilly acquired ImClone in 2008.
“Erbitux’s ability to extend the lives of patients with head and neck cancers is an important tool for oncologists who often rely on a multitreatment approach for patients,” Richard Pazdur, director of the Office of Oncology Drug Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in the prepared statement.
Bristol-Myers Squibb shares rose less than 1 percent, to $31.39 each at Monday's close. Lilly shares advanced 1.1 percent, to $38.35.
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