There is some good news for those of us in Europe. The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted some positive opinions backing the approval of four new cancer therapies, which five are Orphan Drugs:
· An Orphan Drug named Bavencio (avelumab), from Merck Serono Europe Limited, for the treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma.
· An Orphan Drug called Lutathera (lutetium oxodotreotide), from Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAAP), for the treatment of gastro-entero-pancreatic neurocrine tumors.
· An Orphan Drug being called Rydapt (midostaurin), from Novartis Europharm (NVS -0.5%), for adults with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia who are FLT3 mutation-positive, adults with aggressive systemic mastocytosis or mast cell leukemia.
· Tecentriq (atezolizumab) for bladder cancer and non-small lung cancer from Roche
These approvals will now move on to the entire committee for what will hopefully be quick approvals.
Joel T. Nowak, MA, MSW wrote this Post. Joel is the CEO/Executive Director of Cancer ABCs. He is a Cancer Thriver diagnosed with 5 primary cancers - Thyroid, Metastatic Prostate, Renal, Melanoma and a rare cancer, Appendiceal Cancer.
