The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has welcomed the approval of a new combination of two drugs for ovarian cancer by the US regulatory body the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The approval comes following a long-running research collaboration between the pharmaceutical company Verastem Oncology, The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), and our partner hospital the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, which also included the company Chugai Pharmaceuticals.
The ruling from the FDA means the combination of the two drugs – which have the generic names avutometinib and defactinib, now branded Avmapki and Favzynja – will be available for patients in the US with a specific type of low grade serous ovarian cancer.
Judgements from other regulatory bodies are due to follow in the coming months, including in Europe.
Credit: The Institute of Cancer Research