The FDA on May 4 approved Novartis' combination therapy to treat an aggressive form of thyroid cancer.
The therapy, which consists of cancer drugs Tafinlar and Mekinist, may now be used to treat inoperable or metastatic anaplastic thyroid cancer with a specific gene mutation.
"This is the first FDA-approved treatment for patients with this aggressive form of thyroid cancer, and the third cancer with this specific gene mutation that this drug combination has been approved to treat," said Richard Pazdur, MD, director of the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence and acting director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
The combination therapy is also approved to treat a specific type of lung cancer and melanoma.