Aventis Pharma announced this week that docetaxel (Taxotere) is now licensed in Europe for use in lung cancer.
The drug has been approved by the European Commission for use, in a dosage of 75mg/m2, for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer after failure of prior chemotherapy.
Aventis says that in one phase III trial, involving 204 patients whose disease had failed to respond to platinum-based chemotherapy, median survival was nine months, compared with 4.6 months with best supportive care. In a second study, again involving patients with advanced cancer resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy, one-year survival was 32 per cent, compared with 19 per cent in patients treated with either vinorelbine or ifosfamide.
Docetaxel is already licensed for treatment of breast cancer (locally advanced or metastatic) after failure of prior chemotherapy.