Table 1.
Cancer Drugs Approved by Mid-May 2015
| Drug trade name (generic) | Manufacturer | Indication/therapeutic class/route | Approval date/comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imbruvica (ibrutinib) | Pharmacyclics | For Waldenström's macroglobulinemia; Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor; oral | New indication: 1/29/15 |
| Ibrance (palbociclib) | Pfizer | In combination with letrozole for postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive, human EGFR 2–negative advanced breast cancer; cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitor; oral | 2/3/15 (accelerated approval) |
| Lenvima (lenvatinib) | Eisai | For locally recurrent or metastatic, progressive, radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer; receptor tyrosine kinase; oral | 2/13/15 |
| Farydak (panobinostat) | Novartis | In combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone for patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least 2 previous regimens, including bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent; histone deacetylase inhibitor; oral | 2/23/15 (accelerated approval) |
| Opdivo (nivolumab) | Bristol-Myers Squibb | For metastatic squamous NSCLC that has progressed with or after platinum-based chemotherapy; PD-1–blocking antibody; IV | New indication: 3/4/15 |
| Zarxio (filgrastim-sndz) | Sandoz | First biosimilar to Neupogen approved for all the indications for which Neupogen is approved; leukocyte growth factor; subcutaneous/IV | 3/6/15 |
| Unituxin (dinutuximab) | United Therapeutics | In combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, IL-2, and 13-cis-retinoic acid, for pediatric patients at high risk for neuroblastoma who achieve a partial response or more to first-line multi-agent, multimodality therapy; chimeric monoclonal antibody; IV | 3/10/15 |
| Cyramza (ramucirumab) | Eli Lilly | In combination with FOLFIRI for metastatic colorectal cancer that has progressed with first-line bevacizumab-, oxaliplatin-, and fluoropyrimidine-containing regimens; human VEGF receptor 2 antagonist; IV | New indication: 4/24/15 |
EGFR indicates epidermal growth factor receptor; IL, interleukin; IV, intravenous; NSCLC, non–small-cell lung cancer; PD-1, programmed cell death receptor-1; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor.