According to BioSpace, the European Commission has approved pemetrexed (Alimta®) for use as monotherapy for continuation maintenance therapy in patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this setting, patients whose disease has not progressed immediately following first-line treatment with pemetrexed plus cisplatin can continue maintenance treatment with pemetrexed alone.

This approval was based on results from the PARAMOUNT study, presented at the 2011 ASCO annual meeting (see NeLM report at the link below).