According to Medscape, necitumumab (Portrazza, Eli Lilly and Company), a monoclonal antibody that targets epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), has been approved by the US FDA for the treatment of lung cancer.

The drug has been approved for use in combination with two forms of chemotherapy, gemcitabine (Gemzar, Eli Lilly and Company) and cisplatin (Platinol, HQ Specialty Pharma), in patients with metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have not been previously treated, Medscape reports.

The article reports that the approval was based on results from the SQUIRE trial, which showed a 1.6-month improvement in overall survival (OS) when necitumumab was added to a regimen of gemecitabine and cisplatin. The median OS was 11.5 months, compared with 9.9 months on the doublet of gemcitabine and cisplatin, according to Medscape.

Read more at medscape.com