Bristol-Myers Senior Vice President Andrew Bodnar compares the situation with Erbitux to the chemotherapy agent Taxol, which was initially approved only for ovarian cancer, a relatively uncommon tumor.
Novartis says it hopes next year to apply for approval for three additional drugs for various tumors types, including a new treatment for ovarian cancer, a new lymphoma medicine and a drug for Cushing's disease, a benign tumor in the pituitary gland.