At the same meeting Bayer and Onyx said their drug caused at least some tumor shrinkage in 42% of 89 kidney patients tested.

FORBES: Swiss Army Medicine

The bulk of the tumor pressing on the liver or kidney can cause problems.

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"I think it should change care" and that older patients should be told "that they don't necessarily need to have the kidney tumor removed, " said Dr. William Huang of New York University Langone Medical Center.

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In June oncologist Robert Motzer of New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center reported that SU11248 dramatically shrank tumors in 33% of 63 kidney cancer patients tested (including Judy Norris) and halted tumor growth in another 37%.

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