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Merck KGaA, Lilly's drug Erbitux approved in China for aggressive colon cancer

MERCK KGaA and Eli Lilly and Co.'s medicine Erbitux was approved as an initial treatment for an aggressive type of colon cancer in China.

The drug, also called cetuximab, can now be prescribed as a first-line treatment for colorectal cancer patients whose disease has spread and exhibits the RAS wild-type gene. The therapy is to be used in combination with chemotherapy drugs Folfox or Folfiri, or with cancer medicine irinotecan for those who are resistant or have not responded to irinotecan-based chemotherapy.

The approval was backed by data from a phase 3 study, dubbed Tailor, that showed Erbitux, in combination with Folfox, improved overall survival and progression-free survival in Chinese patients.

Merck licensed the right to market Erbitux outside the U.S. and Canada from Lilly in 1998. The drug is approved in over 100 countries to treat certain types of cancer.