FDA Approvals

2003
FDA approves Velcade for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

2004
FDA approves Letrozole for the adjuvant treatment of early-stage breast cancer after 5 years of tamoxifen therapy.

2004
FDA approves Eloxatin for use in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.

2005
FDA approves Abraxane in the treatment of metastatic or recurrent breast cancer.

2006
The FDA approves the vaccine Gardasil, which protects against persistent infection by the two types of HPV that cause approximately 70 percent of cervical cancers worldwide.

Advances

2000
Researchers discover the most common form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, is actually two distinct diseases, thus explaining why only 40 percent of patients with NHL can be cured by chemotherapy.

2002
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies second-hand smoke as a carcinogen. In 2006, the US Surgeon General releases report on the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

2006
The Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR) shows that raloxifene reduces the incidence of invasive breast cancer to the same extent as tamoxifen but without the potentially dangerous side effects.