UFT, an oral chemotherapy that already has marketing approval in approximately 60 countries, will complement Merck’s current treatment for colon cancer, Erbitux, currently approved in 39 countries around the world.
“We see this as an excellent opportunity to extend our product portfolio, particularly in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer,” said Elmar Schnee, president of global ethical pharmaceuticals for Merck.
UFT is administered with folinic acid (FA) for the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. UFT has shown comparable efficacy to intravenously administered 5-FU/FA, the mainstay treatment for this type of cancer, and shows practically no disabling hand-foot syndrome, a painful condition that occurs with other oral 5-FU derivatives.
Merck acquired UFT after Bristol-Myers Squibb returned worldwide rights of the product to Taiho Pharmaceutical. Bristol-Myers Squibb decided to return UFT rights to Taiho for strategic business reasons, including an increased focus on its global oncology products in late-stage development.
Merck said that it expects UFT to have a smooth transition from Bristol-Myers Squibb, with Merck taking over sales and marketing responsibility for the product as soon as possible.