By Curt Pesman and Mary Miller

In an unusual move, sanofi pharmaceutical company has instituted a 50 percent discount, effective immediately, on its latest cancer drug Zaltrap.  The reason for the sharp price drop, company officials said, was “market resistance” to the initial price.

Zaltrap was approved in August by the FDA for second-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer.

One possible result of the price cut is that the new drug may become more widely available. However, due to complex pricing and regulation issues, it’s not yet known how the actual cost to patients will change over the next several months. Fight Colorectal Cancer is gathering more information today on this issue from oncologists and company officials. Read the rest of this entry »

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center made a very public announcement—and explanation—today in a New York Times op-ed about why they will not offer the new drug Zaltrap® (ziv-aflibercept) to its metastatic colorectal cancer patients.

The authors, all world-renowned cancer specialists at the world’s oldest cancer center, in an op-ed headlined “In Cancer Care, Cost Matters,” essentially challenged other cancer centers to take action where politicians fear to tread.

“We recently made a decision that should have been a no-brainer,” wrote Drs. Peter B. Bach, Leonard B. Saltz and Robert E. Wittes. “The drug, Zaltrap, has proved to be no better than a similar medicine we already have for advanced colorectal cancer, while its price—at $11,063 on average for a month of treatment—is more than twice as high.” Read the rest of this entry »

Ziv-Aflibercept Approved as 2^nd line treatment for metastatic CRC  

For the first time in more than five years, the FDA has approved a new drug for certain patients who have metastatic colorectal cancer.

The FDA has approved ZALTRAP® (ziv-aflibercept) to be used with FOLFIRI as a “second-line” treatment for patients with stage IV colorectal cancer whose cancer got worse despite an initial oxaliplatin-based treatment (e.g. FOLFOX).  Read the rest of this entry »

ZALTRAP® (aflibercept) added to survival time when given along with FOLFIRI to colorectal cancer patients who had already progressed on earlier oxaliplatin treatment.

On April 26, 2011, sanofi-aventis and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced positive results for the Phase III VELOUR trial, which compared ZALTRAP to a placebo during FOLFIRI chemotherapy.

Detailed results will be available at an upcoming medical conference. Read the rest of this entry »