Jeil Pharmaceutical said that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has approved Lonsurf, colorectal cancer treatment developed by Taiho and licensed in by Jeil.

Taiho's colorectal cancer treatment Lonsurf

Lonsurf is an oral anticancer drug that contains trifluorothymidine and tipiracil hydrochloride in Korea.

With the approval, hospitals can now use Lonsurf to treat patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have been treated with fluorothymidine, oxaliplatin, and Irinotecan chemotherapy, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor or anti-epidermal growth factor receptor therapies, or those who cannot be treated with these therapies.

"Lonsurf's approval will lead to the further expansion of Jeil's drug market in the field of anticancer drugs along with TS-1, a representative anticancer drug, and greatly contribute to the treatment of local cancer patients." a company official said.

According to the Korea Central Cancer Registry, colon cancer, which was the second most common cancer after stomach cancer in 2016 with 28,127 cases, has high unmet medical needs as there are patients who do not respond to existing drugs. The company expects Lonsurf will meet this demand.

Lonsurf is approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer in 75 countries and regions around the world, including Korea. The drug also gained approvals to treat metastatic gastric cancer in the U.S. in February, Japan in August, and the EU in September.

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