INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. said Monday that European regulators have approved its cancer treatment Alimta for a new use against certain types of lung cancer. The European Commission granted the drug approval for maintenance treatment of local or advanced nonsquamous, non-small cell lung cancer, a subset of the most common form of lung cancer. Specifically, the chemotherapy drug was indicated for patients whose disease has not progressed after initial treatment with another type of chemotherapy. Traditionally, patients whose cancer is controlled by chemotherapy are monitored until the disease reappears and are then treated with a second form of chemotherapy. Under the new approval, Alimta will be used continuously after the initial chemotherapy treatment. Eli Lilly launched Alimta in 2004. It generated $1.15 billion in sales last year as Lilly’s sixth-best selling drug. It brought in $335 million in the first quarter this year.
