Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) adopted a positive opinion to extend the marketing authorization for Vectibix® (panitumumab) to include combination with FOLFIRI- FOLFIRI is a chemotherapy regimen for treatment of colorectal cancer. It is made up of the following drugs:
- FOL – folinic acid (leucovorin), a vitamin B derivative used as a "rescue" drug for high doses of the drug methotrexate, but increases the cytotoxicity of 5-fluorouracil;
- F – fluorouracil (5-FU), a pyrimidine analog and antimetabolite which incorporates into the DNA molecule and stops synthesis; and
- IRI – irinotecan (Camptosar), a topoisomerase inhibitor, which prevents DNA from uncoiling and duplicating.
(an irinotecan-based chemotherapy) as first-line treatment in adult patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). About half of the patients with mCRC have wild-type RAS tumors.
"Adding Vectibix to chemotherapy as first-line treatment in patients with wild-type RASmetastatic colorectal cancer has been shown to result in better responses than chemotherapy alone," said Elliott M. Levy, M.D., senior vice president of Global Development at Amgen. "The CHMP recommendation is an important step toward increasing the treatment options for patients with this aggressive disease and helping improve outcomes in the European Union."
