WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new Pfizer drug for patients with advanced kidney cancer that has spread to other parts of the body despite treatment with at least one previous drug.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s drug Axitinib as a secondary option for patients with renal cell carcinoma, which starts in the lining of small tubes found in the kidney. Renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer, with an estimated 61,000 people in the U.S. newly diagnosed last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Only about 11 percent of patients with advanced kidney cancer survive five years or more after diagnosis.
Like several other recent cancer drugs, Axitinib works by blocking proteins that promote tumor growth and cancer progression.
