The drug Nexavar, made by German drugmaker Bayer AG and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., can help curb the size and number of tumors in the most common form of kidney cancer, but has yet to make an impact on the length of life of the patients.
"We believe that this represents truly, from a medical point of view, a major advance in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma," says Dr. Richard Pazdur, head of the FDA's Office of Oncology Drug Products, in a Reuters Health report.
The drug kept the cancer from progressing for twice as long as a placebo in clinical trials - six months compared to three months, the company says.
The companies hope that further analysis of the data will show a survival benefit from Nexavar.
