FDA Approves New Lilly Cancer Treatment

Lilly completed the CoLucid acquisition in March.

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new cancer treatment drug. The company says Lartruvo is the first FDA-approved drug for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma in 40 years.

Lilly says Lartruvo received accelerated approval after successful trials. The FDA’s Accelerated Approval program "allows for earlier approval of drugs that treat serious conditions and that fill an unmet medical need," according to the company.

"The approval of Lartruvo is based on an encouraging and positive study for patients, and represents progress in soft tissue sarcoma treatment. For the first time in four decades, we now have a combination regimen – LARTRUVO and doxorubicin – that offers progress over doxorubicin alone in the front-line setting, by improving overall survival for people with soft tissue sarcoma," said Richard Gaynor, senior vice president, product development and medical affairs for Lilly Oncology. "This continues our commitment to discovering new ways to treat cancer, including for people who have rare types of cancer."

Lilly says in 2015, there were approximately 12,000 new STS cases diagnosed and nearly 5,000 deaths in the U.S.