The FDA has also granted approval of Ixempra in combination with capecitabine for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer resistant to treatment with an anthracycline, and a taxane.
Ixempra is a microtubule inhibitor belonging to a class of antineoplastic agents, the epothilones. Bristol-Myers Squibb anticipates that Ixempra will be available within days.
Linda Vahdat, associate professor of clinical medicine, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, said: “Previously, patients with aggressive metastatic breast cancer no longer responding to currently available chemotherapies had limited treatment options. The approval of Ixempra means that we now have an important new option for patients with metastatic breast cancer who have rapidly progressed through currently approved chemotherapies.”