FDA approves drug for advanced form of colorectal cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Lonsurf, a drug for people who have an advanced form of colorectal cancer.

Lonsurf is an oral medication intended to treat patients with metastatic cancer who have been treated previously with chemotherapy and biological therapy. The drug will be available to patients who are no longer responding to other therapies. 

“The past decade has brought a new understanding around colorectal cancer, in how we can both detect and treat this often devastating disease,” Richard Pazdur, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said. “But there are many patients who still need additional options, and today’s approval is a testament to the FDA’s commitment to work with companies to develop new drugs in disease areas where unmet needs remain.”

Colorectal cancer is the third-most common non-skin cancer in men and women in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute. While still the second-leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S., over the past 10 years the number of colorectal cancer cases and related deaths has decreased, due in part to screenings, such as colonoscopies.