Merck KGaA: European Commission approves bladder cancer drug

(CercleFinance.com) - Germany's Merck and US partner Pfizer said on Monday that the European Commission has approved their Bavencio treatment for bladder cancer, which is the tenth most common cancer worldwide.


The executive arm of the European Union has approved Bavencio as monotherapy for the first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma, who are progression-free following platinum-based chemotherapy, the drugmakers said.

In clinical trials, Bavencio showed a significant improvement in median overall survival of 21.4 months, compared to 14.3 months in randomized patients.

Nearly 204,000 people in Europe were diagnosed with bladder cancer across all stages in 2020, with over 67,000 patients dying from the disease.

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