The label for Eloxatin will contain a "black box"--the FDA's most serious--warning of those side effects.
Putting chemotherapy drug Taxotere in the same sales force with Eloxatin would create a cancer powerhouse.
International trials show that adding Eloxatin to the standard chemotherapy combination helps reduce the risk of relapse after surgery by 25%.
That point was driven home today by the regulatory approval of Eloxatin, or oxaliplatin, a treatment for colorectal cancer developed by Sanofi-Synthelabo .
Yes, some patents expire soon, like those for Eloxatin, Plavix and Taxotere, but growth of existing and new products should more than make up for expirations.
Argentinean export records seem to show tens of thousands of doses of drugs, including knockoffs of erythropoietin and the cancer drugs Eloxatin and methotrexate, making their way from Argentina into Canada.
To benchmark oncologists' desire to use Avastin, some Wall Street analysts are using a chemotherapy, Eloxatin from Sanofi-Synthelabo (nyse: SNY - news - people ), as their benchmark.
Pills such as Tarceva are at least cheaper for the system than drugs such as Avastin, Eloxatin, and Erbitux, all of which must be infused directly into the patient's vein in the doctor's office.
It's very important, however, says Saltz, to keep in perspective that Eloxatin is by no means a cure for late-stage colorectal cancer, and that it does not represent a breakthrough in the way cancer is treated.
Genentech's Avastin was tested with Taxol in non-small-cell lung cancer (see " Genentech's Triumph"), and can be used with either Eloxatin or Camptosar, which is made by Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ).
Viehbacher has worked hard to stablize Sanofi, a proud French company, as it has faced the expiration of the patents on many of its biggest drugs: best-sellers like Plavix for heart disease and Eloxatin and Taxotere for cancer.
FORBES: Sanofi's CEO On The New York Times' Criticism Of Drug Prices And Surviving The Patent Cliff
Eloxatin was rejected by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 2000, because data submitted at the time failed to statistically prove that the new drug was better than the current first-line treatment, Pharmacia 's (nyse: PHA - news - people ) Camptosar.
"One of the lessons for companies trying to develop drugs is to listen to what the FDA tells you, " says Richard Goldberg , a professor of oncology at the Mayo Clinic, who is helping Sanofi run clinical tests that finally prove that Eloxatin should be the first-line drug against colorectal cancer.
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