FDA Broadens Lonsurf Use in Colorectal Cancer

The FDA recently granted another approval to Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Division Taiho Oncology, Inc.’s Lonsurf (trifluridine/tipiracil) in combination with another agent for a type of colorectal cancer. The decision provides another treatment option for a condition that respondents to a Zitter Insights survey regard as in need of more effective therapies.

On Aug. 2, the FDA approved Lonsurf as a single agent or in combination with bevacizumab for the treatment of adults with metastatic colorectal cancer previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drug and, if Rat sarcoma (RAS) wild-type, an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy. Bevacizumab originally was available as Avastin from Genentech USA, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, but now four biosimilars of it are also on the market: Celltrion USA, Inc.’s Vegzelma (bevacizumab-adcd), Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s Alymsys (bevacizumab-maly), Pfizer Inc.’s Zirabev (bevacizumab-bvzr) and Amgen Inc.’s Mvasi (bevacizumab-awwb).