Merck KGaA's Erbitux delays breast cancer progression, ESMO meeting hears

14 October 2010

Merck Serono, a division of German drug major Merck KGaA (FWB: MRK), has presented the first results from the BALI-1 study of Erbitux (cetuximab) in the treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive cancer in which early relapse and metastasis are common, demonstrating that the drug has the potential to improve outcomes for women with this relentlessly devastating cancer. The data were presented during the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), taking place in Milan, Italy.

Erbitux is already approved for advanced colon cancer as well as head and neck tumors. US drug majors Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb market the drug in the USA, while Merck does so elsewhere. Erbitux had sales of $1.7 billion last year.

But failed in colon cancer study

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