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WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a breakthrough cancer medication that researchers have heralded as the first drug shown to prolong the lives of patients with advanced skin cancer.
The federal health agency approved Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s injectable drug, called Yervoy, for late-stage or metastatic melanoma. Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer, but the FDA has approved only two other drugs for advanced melanoma. The newest of those drugs was cleared more than 13 years ago. Neither one had been shown to extend patients’ lives.
