Treatment finding left to the docs

Given the lack of good drugs for pancreatic cancer, FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee last week voted that Tarceva should be approved for the indication despite showing a marginal clinical effect. Optimal dosing can be worked out in a post-approval setting, the panel said, advice FDA officials seem prepared to accept.

While many ODAC members agreed Tarceva erlotinib from OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. provided only a marginal improvement in treating pancreatic cancer, 10 of the 13 voters were willing to give patients another option in a disease that has only one approved drug - gemcitabine - and a near 100% mortality rate after one year...