Drug makers Bristol-Myers, Eli Lilly and Amgen are now able to put on the label of their cancer drugs what kind of patients the drugs won’t work for: those with a mutation to a certain gene known as KRAS . The FDA approved the labeling change for Bristol and Lilly’s Erbitux, the companies announced this morning. Amgen said Friday that the FDA approved its labeling changes for Vectibix, which is in the same class of drug as Eribitux. Usually companies want their medicines to be used by as many patients as possible. But drug makers are recognizing the value of tailoring medicine to specific individuals based on certain genetic or other biologic markers. The thinking is that even if the population for whom the drug works is smaller, it will

be more effective for those patients, and therefore more critical that those individuals take and be reimbursed for the treatment. In the case of Erbitux and Vectibix, the labeling changes will reflect who shouldn’t get the drug. Erbitux and other expensive cancer medicines have faced repeated questions about whether drugs that prolong life for short periods of time are worth the high costs . The American Society of Clinical Oncology recommended in January that patients with a mutated form of KRAS shouldn’t get treated with this class of drugs for advanced colon cancer. Not using Erbitux as a first-line treatment for these patients could save about $600 million a year. DNA image via Wikimedia Commons

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Erbitux, Vectibix Label Change Approved for KRAS Gene