Expanded lung cancer indication for Alimta

Lilly’s Alimta (pemetrexed injection) has been approved in combination with cisplatin, for first-line treatment of locally-advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), for patients with nonsquamous histology.

This approval was based on an open-label randomized study of 1725 patients where the median survival was 10.3 months in both the Alimta plus cisplatin (AC) and the Gemzar (gemcitabine HCl injection) plus cisplatin (GC) arms of the study. The median progression-free survival was 4.8 and 5.1 months, and the overall response rates were 27.1% and 24.7% for the AC and GC arms, respectively

Alimta is already approved in combination with cisplatin for treating malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) in patients whose disease is either unresectable or who are otherwise not candidates for curative surgery and as monotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC after chemotherapy.

For more information call (800) LILLY-RX or visit www.alimta.com.